


Don't Follow the Dark

by Valeria_Aurelia



Category: Supernatural
Genre: Animal Transformation, Bakeneko, Body Horror, Different World, Dwarf Village, Eerie Castle full of eerie women, Fear, Gen, Psychological Horror, Screaming, Skeletal Ferryman, Talking Trees, Teddy Bear Picnic, Unreasonable Yet Reasonable Fear, Whispering Shadows, Wisps, cernunnos - Freeform, et cetera - Freeform
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-04-04
Updated: 2016-10-31
Packaged: 2018-05-31 04:15:06
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 8
Words: 25,921
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6455335
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Valeria_Aurelia/pseuds/Valeria_Aurelia
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>After Sam and Castiel are kidnapped by shadows and darkness, Dean is forced to follow them into a strange, new world where he will face unnatural circumstances and perilous dangers such as a skeletal ferryman, a dwarf village, talking trees, frightening transformations, a teddy bear picnic, and a terrifying castle in order to find them.  Will Dean be able to find his friends before its too late, or will they be trapped in a terrifying world of darkness and monsters forever?</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Follow the Dark

**Author's Note:**

> Disclaimer: Dean, Cas, and Sam are not mine! They were created and are owned by the wonderful writers of Supernatural and the CW Network. All mysterious and creepy characters were made by me, though most events are inspired by actual myths and fairy tales from all around the world.  
> I'm so excited for this! This is not only my first fanfiction for Archive of Our Own, but it is also my first scary/creepy story!  
> Now, without further ado, here comes the first chapter! Don't forget to comment! Enjoy! :)

Darkness and shadows. That is what Dean saw when he opened his eyes. Whispers and murmurs. That is what Dean heard when he woke. Fear, however, was the only thing Dean felt. Cold, stark fear. The kind of fear that leads men to death. To the darkness.

Dean shot up in his bed to see his room full of swirling wisps of shadows. This was different from the Darkness they were facing at the moment, for this was a deep blackness that not only swallowed the very existence of light, but also everything else in the universe. This was an empty ebony that claimed figures and shapes as its own and yanked it from reality to a world all of its own.

Suddenly, out of nowhere, he could hear it, _them_. The whispers of unknown beings, muttering voices that spoke of terrible things.

_They’re gone…_

Dean jumped at the voices. Who was gone? What was this?

_We took them… They’re gone…_

Took who? What were these voices talking about?

_The man and the angel… We took them… They’re gone…_

Sam? Cas? Was that who they were talking about? They’re gone? No, he shouldn’t be so foolish. It must be a bad dream. If he just laid back down, he could just go back to-

_Gone to the Black Place, they have! The man and the angel! We took them! They’re gone!_ The voices echoed along with each word and with each breath they took.

The Black Place? What was that supposed to mean? What the hell was this, anyway? No, it’s not real. It’s just a bad dream. That’s all it is. That’s all…

_Follow the dark, Dean…_

Dean felt shivers go down his spine as his name was whispered into his ear. What the hell was this? It felt so…real… Was this really just a dream?

_Follow the dark, Dean…! There you will find Cernunnos and the bakeneko…! Who have gone to the Black Place, they have…! The Horn_ _é_ _d God and the phantom cat…! We took them…! They’re gone!_

Suddenly, the door to Dean’s room swung open with such ferocity that he thought their hinges would brake straight from their frames. And with this new opening, the black shadows began to drift away.

_They’re gone…! But not for long…!_

Dean watched the wisps of black leave the room, which made him leap from his bed suddenly. Before he could stop himself, the hunter called, “Hey, wait! What are you talking about!?”

_Follow the dark, Dean…! They’re gone…! But not for long…!_

He knew he shouldn’t. It was definitely a dream. Sam and Cas were fine. They were safe and sound in their own rooms down the hall. There was no such thing as a Sir-nun-os or a ba-ke-ne-…a whatever! Both of those things existed as much as this dream did.

So, it wouldn’t harm anything to follow this seemingly harmless ‘dark’, right?

Dean knew he was being an imbecile as he felt his foot move forward on the floor, but he just couldn’t stop himself. He found himself moving through the hallway, feeling the cold tile beneath his bare feet. It was calling to him, the shadows. Greeting him like an old friend, it was.

Greeting him like Death.

The experienced hunter couldn’t make his feet stop moving forward. He had to follow the shadows as the whispering voices breathed into his ears the same thing, over and over and over again.

_Follow the dark, Dean…! They’re gone…! But not for long…!_

He had to, he just had to. It was as if following the dark was the one thing he had meant to do his whole life. Nothing else was worth it. All that mattered in the world now was following the dark, seeing where it would lead him. And if that meant death, so be it.

When Dean reached the Map Room, however, it was not death he found. And with the emergency lights blaring every second with green light instead of red, the wisps of blackness were curling even more ominously around where the antique map should be on the table. All human instincts that Dean could possibly have in him screamed not to step any closer. It seemed as though all the instincts that would usually tell a man to run and hide were built for this very moment.

The strange dream seemed to not care, however.

So, with more ease than would be expected, Dean took a step closer to the table. Then another… then another… then another…. And before the hunter knew what was happening, he suddenly found himself right next to the swirling of the blackness.

It called to him like never before, the whispers now raspy, coarse screeches.

_Follow the dark, Dean…! They’re gone…! But not for long…!_

And as the screams beckoned him more and more…

_Follow the dark, Dean…! They’re gone…! But not for long…!_

…Dean suddenly realized how much fear had been swelling up in his very being this whole time.

_Follow the dark, Dean…! They’re gone…! But not for long…!_

It was crushing, the fear. Crushing him more than anything he had ever experienced.

_Follow the dark, Dean…! They’re gone…! But not for long…!_

Dean’s mouth started to open and his mind screamed for his legs to move.

_Follow the dark, Dean…! They’re gone…! But not for long…!_

His legs would not move, however. And no matter how much his nerves threatened to make him shake, he couldn’t even do that. He couldn’t do anything. The sole thing that his body forced him to do was stare into the bottomless abyss that was forming in front of him, curling and swirling before him. The screams raked at the back of his brain, making his entire mind vibrate from the sounds all around him. The cold bit at his neck and arms the closer he drew towards the darkness in front of him, his heart pounding wildly with every step.

Dean had never wanted anything more in his entire life than to just scream for help. Scream to anyone. Sam, Cas, anybody. And he prayed to God that this was a dream. Just a terrifyingly real dream. That the voices were wrong and his brothers were still in the hall, peacefully in their rooms. Safe and sound.

_They’re gone…!_

No…

_They’re gone…!_

No…!

_They’re gone…!_

No!

It was just a dream! A terrifying nightmare! His brothers _were_ in their rooms! They _were_ safe and sound! And nobody had _taken_ -

Dean’s head suddenly shot up, eyes full of fear, breathing ragged and harsh. Sweat coated his skin, as he suddenly saw his brother and friend staring right back at him.

Their eyes were just as fearful, breathing just as ragged, and skin just as soaked. Their hands were reaching out to him, across the table that was also in front of them. Their mouths were open, screams threatening to come out, but never would.

Their skin was lit with a hue of green from what seemed to be a rocking lamp hanging close above their heads. With lips painted purple, the wisps of blackness and shadows traced their fingers across Dean’s beloved brothers’ delicate features. Tears were streaming down their faces as they reached out to him in slow-motion, dark sunken eyes laid on their heads. They were barely alive, their skin pressed so tightly against their thin, light bones that Dean swore he could see the color of their skeletons through their paper-thin surfaces.

The world had never been so against Dean than now. Everything in his being wanted to reach out to them, pull them out from the swirling portal of darkness, and save them from the whispering shadows.

But, just as before, he couldn’t move a single muscle. He had to watch helplessly, forced to just stare at them emotionlessly as they disappeared into the darkness. He couldn’t even shed a tear as they disappeared from his sight, still threatening to scream out to him, to plea for him to help them.

But he couldn’t. He couldn’t do anything.

_Gone to the Black Place, they have! The man and the angel! We took them! They’re gone!_

Once his friends were gone, it was as if his body had snapped back into reality, as he suddenly lunged forward, screaming and crying out.

“ _Saaaam! Caaaas!_ ” His hands gripped the table as he looked down into the abyss that had swallowed his brothers. “ _Stop!_ ”

_Gone to the Black Place, they have! The man and the angel! We took them! They’re gone!_

Dean felt himself shivering, remembering the terrible sight of the two people he loved the most slip away from him.

_We took them! They’re gone!_

A tear slipped off Dean’s rough chin. He couldn’t stop the river of tears that fell down his face, as he was only able to watch the drops of water fall into the shadows.

_Follow the dark, Dean…! They’re gone…! But not for long…!_

Dean’s screaming was hitched as he felt himself stop suddenly with wide eyes.

_Follow the darkness, Dean! They’re gone! But not for long!_

Dean stared thoughtfully into the abyss.

_They’re gone!_

“But not for long…” Dean suddenly repeated in a whisper.

Before he knew it, however, the hunter found himself slipping through a bottomless abyss of darkness and shadows, whispers and murmurs, and cold, stark fear. And as Dean drifted into unconsciousness, he was able to hear one last thing from the whispering voices.

_Follow the dark, Dean…! There you will find Cernunnos and the bakeneko…! The Hornéd God and the phantom cat, they are…! Don’t be deceived, however…! Friends are friends, no matter what fruit they’ve been given!_


	2. The Skeletal Ferryman

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> After falling through a hole of darkness and shadows, Dean finds himself in a mysterious sea of misty nothingness with no one around for miles, or at least he thinks...

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Alright! Thank you to all the people who gave this story Hits through the past week! In thanks, here's the next chapter for you guys! Please don't feel scared to comment if you enjoy! I'd love some feedback to see how I'm doing!  
> Thank you! Enjoy! XD

Dean was swaying in misty waters when he awoke. His body jerked and he found himself kicking his legs suddenly through the water in order to stay afloat. The hunter’s hair and pajamas were clinging to his skin as he gasped for air and spit out the grey water that was around him.

“What the hell?” he whispered.

What was he doing in the middle of the ocean? Last thing he remembered was that he had been sleeping in bed and then…

_Follow the dark, Dean…! They’re gone…! But not for long…!_

“Oh, son of a _bitch_!” Dean snapped as his head whipped back and forth, scanning his endless surroundings.

The hunter suddenly remembered the terrifying nightmare he had had of Sam and Cas being taken away by black, swirling shadows. His breathing hitched in fear of the memory and he began darting his head around his surroundings.

With ragged breathing and heart pounding, he called out across the ocean that was beyond the fog, “Saaam!” Dean waited for a response, hoping and praying there would be at least some sign of his brother. “Caaas!” Even at the second name he called, however, the hunter received no response from his lost brothers.

In desperation to find them, Dean then plunged his head into the deep, misty waters. He had to find them, he had to! There was nowhere else they could be but here! They had been taken away from him so many times before, Dean didn’t – Dean _couldn’t_ give up on them this time! Especially after all he had done to them….

The sight he was met with beneath the waves, however, was not Sam or Cas, but something that sent chills down his spine. Right below him, swimming and climbing towards him, were thousands of human skeletons. Their bony hands reaching out to him, clawing one another in order to be the first to grab him. Flesh still hung from some of their bones, jaws closing and shutting, tattered clothes still clinging to their figures. Their hollow eyes carried a glare all the way through the water towards him, making him seize with fright as he stared right back at their absent pupils.

Dean jumped and his arms and legs shot forward, trying desperately to swim away from the hideous creatures. The hunter spun around and frantically fought his way up to the surface, which seemed so much farther away than before. It also made him wonder why he was so afraid in the first place. He had seen things in the dead of night that could easily top the fear he had of the phantoms that were making their way towards him, and yet that was a sense of dread that rushed through the man.

When Dean’s head finally tore up out from the ocean and onto the surface, making him spit out water and gasp for air as he shook the grey liquid off his face, he was suddenly met with a strange sight. Not even a minute ago, he had plunged into the water with no one and nothing around, but now, Dean found himself staring at the rickety, old planks of a long, wooden boat.

He felt a gasp come from his mouth as his eyes flew up to see an eerie, robed figure standing on the boat in front of him. The robe that the man wore was tattered and old, and, with bony hands, he held a long stick that was partially submerged in the misty water.

Out of desperation to get away from the terrifying creatures that were waiting for him below the water, Dean reached his hands out to the boat and grabbed onto the side as he pleaded to the robed figure, “Hey, you, old man, bring me to shore! Quick! I’m being chased!”

The figure stood still for a while before finally rotating its head to stare down at the young man before him, only for the hunter to go pale white in fear at the horrifying sight. Instead of a face of flesh, the robed figure was made only of bone and darkness. A skeleton, just as the creatures below him were, except where the beings in the water had flesh, this figure had the same black shadows curling around him that had taken Sam and Cas away.

Upon seeing the hunter hanging to his boat, the skeletal ferryman fully turned towards him. His movements were slow and strained, but when he finally was facing Dean completely, the ferryman towered high above him, a low breath uttered from between the teeth on his face that lacked any movement whatsoever. The tall, lanky skeleton gradually reached out a long, thin arm towards the young hunter, the coarse cloth that had been covering his hand slid upward as to reveal a pure white, bony hand, each finger clicking against each individual bone as his palm slowly opened as if he was asking him for something.

The ferryman froze in place. Dean drew in a quick breath as he looked down at the ferryman’s hand and then back to his face once more, stopping instantly in fear as he was once again taken aback by the horror of it. The darkness no longer seemed like an absorption of light and shape, but instead a poisonous fog that loomed and billowed up around the skeleton’s head. Dean finally breathed, “Yeah… Yeah, I don’t know what you’re-”

"Obol*….” The ferryman interrupted him with a raspy and strained voice in a sort of tone that Dean had to think twice on whether or it was a word or if it was just the wind howling high above him.

Dean blinked at the skeletal figure before saying, “Um… Yeah, I don’t have anything for you, buddy. I just need a quick ride to-” Dean was cut short on his words again, but unlike the last time, it was not the ferryman who interrupted him, but a sudden object that appeared in his mouth.

Surprised by the cold thing on his tongue, Dean reached one of his hands down to his mouth and spit it into his palm. The hunter looked down at the object to find, sitting in his hand, was an imperfect, bronze coin that had a horned man on one side and the shape of a cat on the other.

After Dean flipped the coin over in his hand a few times with curiosity and awe, the skeletal ferryman’s hand reached slightly forward even more as he repeated in his raspy voice once more, “Obol….”

Dean’s eyes flicked up to the robed figure. This scene…it seemed so much like some myth he had once heard, of a ferryman who would give you a ride to…somewhere, but only if you had a coin that had been placed in your mouth*. And this skeletal ferryman was demanding for something he had, something called an ‘obol’….

Taking a chance, Dean reached over to the ferryman’s hand and hesitantly placed the misshapen coin in the bony palm. Once the ferryman had the bronze coin, his fingers curled around the unusual object, each bone clicking against the metal, and he then stepped aside, inviting Dean onto the boat with him.

Dean smiled in spite of himself, haven figured out how to catch a ride to shore. So, the hunter hoisted himself onto the boat and the skeletal ferryman began to push his long, wooden stick through the water, making his boat move forward. And, without a single word, the robed figure took Dean across the misty waters as the hunter let his wet pajamas dry off, not knowing at all what dangers awaited him on the shores of the Black Place.

 

 

Birds chirped and leaves swayed around Sam. His fingers curled, feeling the grass underneath himself as he did so. He moved his leg up slightly, letting the grass and leaves around him tickle his skin. He could feel the heat of the sun on the side of his face as his lips curled up in a grimace. It was so warm and calming. Life was just as it should be, it seemed. Everything would be so perfect and at peace.

If it wasn’t for the terrible, painful throbbing in Sam’s head.

Sam moved his hands down to his sides and his legs inward, and with one mighty push, hoisted himself off the ground and began making his way into a sitting position. Once he was upright, he found himself swaying a little bit. The world was spinning, nothing was balanced, and Sam couldn’t decide if he was going to puke, pass out, or both.

“Oh, god…” Sam muttered. His head was throbbing more than it ever had before. It felt heavier than usual, too, but he assumed that was just the throbbing. He would have thought that this was either a hangover or a concussion of some sorts if it wasn’t for the terrible, _terrible_ pain on the top of his scalp.

It felt as if his head had been ripped open.

What had happened to him? Where was he? Why was he in the middle of the forest? Where was Dean? Where was-?

“Cas!” Sam’s head suddenly shot up as he suddenly remembered being dragged into some dark portal with Castiel. They then had been brought to…some… _place_ … No, there had been water at one point, endless fog and water…and then the ferryman came and took them away for two coins… Ah, but there was a town as well… a town of…little…people? Or _were_ they people? What else could they have been, then? And when had all that happened? In what order? What had happened first? How did he get here? Where was ‘here’? And where was Cas?

Sam groaned and put his head down, all this moving and thinking was making the painful throbbing worse. He reached a hand up to his forehead, only to feel something wet and sticky on the top of his head. Sam’s eyes shot open. He felt his heart beat faster in his chest. He knew he had to reach farther up his scalp to see where the bleeding was. But everything in his very being was screaming for him not to. He didn’t want to know. He _didn’t_ want to know.

But he _had_ to know.

Sam could hear his heart beating. Nothing else in the forest was making a noise. It was just him and his heart. With a shaking hand, his fingers made their way up his forehead, following the two trails of blood that were on each side of his face. They just hesitantly kept making their way up his skin, all the way up until Sam’s fingertips suddenly hit something. Something…hard…and…stick-like….

Sam never wanted anything more in the world than to put his hand back down. There was nothing to find on his scalp, it was just his head! But the kind of common sense that most people assume is insanity told him otherwise.

So, Sam’s fingertips felt their way farther up his scalp, feeling the stick-like things on the top of his head. And the more he felt the objects, the more his hands shook and his heart pounded louder and his breathing quickened.

‘No, it’s not real. It’s just a bad dream. That’s all it is. That’s all…!’ Sam thought to himself desperately.

But, even with these pleas being repeated in his thoughts, Sam couldn’t help a sudden, terrified scream. It was shill and long, the kind of scream that cries out for help, though they know it will never come. The kind of scream that begs for anyone to hear, so that their pain may be heard. And so, it was.

_Welcome…_

Sam’s eyes widened.                                     

_Welcome, Cernunnos…_

Shivers ran down his spine as the voices in the distance echoed through the forest.

_We hope you enjoyed your meal…_

Sam whipped his throbbing head around, trying to find where the voices were coming from despite his pain.

_We offered it so that you would come back to us, Cernunnos…_

Suddenly, from behind the trees, wisps of yellow light emerged. Sam’s eyebrows rose and his head moved back slightly in shock and awe at the dancing lights.

_And come back to us you did…_

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> *Obol: An ancient Roman coin that would be placed in the mouth of the deceased so that their soul would be able to pay for a ride to Hades (or the Underworld). If a soul did not have a coin, they would be left on the edge of the River Styx -- the river that separated Earth from Hades -- to walk the shores hopelessly for the rest of eternity.  
> Charon: The ferryman for the River Styx. Souls would pay him to catch a ride on his boat to Hades.


	3. Cernunnos and the Wisps

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Dean arrives at a mysterious island full of rather peculiar people, where he finds a lead on where Sam and Cas may be. Meanwhile, Sam is visited by three, strange lights that seem to have much darker intentions than they're trying to let on.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you all so much for your Hits! And I want to send a special shout-out to Mystical_Light6 for giving this story a kudo! Thank you so much, Mystical_Light6! It made me so happy that you did that! XD For that, here's the next chapter! I think you guys will like this one!  
> I hope you enjoy! And please don't feel shy to comment, it would really help me out on seeing if I'm going in the right direction or not!  
> Thanks! :D

Dean couldn’t tell how much time had passed since he had hitched a ride from the skeletal ferryman. In fact, his internal clock seemed to be completely broken, as he apparently could no longer tell the difference between five minutes and an hour. Or, to better put it, he did not believe his mind when the ferryman’s boat arrived on shore not even three minutes later.

The shore he came across was the strangest place that he had ever seen. It sent shivers down his spine, and, for a moment, he almost asked the ferryman to turn back. The sand was an inky black and the sky was a mixture of red, green, and grey that housed rolling waves of mighty clouds that held small flashes of lightning every second or so. The leaves of the trees that littered the far away distance were dark blue and the flowers, if you could call them that, that hung from them looked like shriveled venus fly traps. Dean squinted his eyes at the little village that sat on the shore, he could tell there was something off about it. He just couldn’t put a finger on it, though.

The side of the skeletal ferryman’s boat hit the side of the creaky, old port. However, Dean couldn’t decide what he wanted to do more, stay with the ferryman or go on that peculiar island. Neither option sounded very enjoyable, however. As creepy as he was, though, the ferryman seemed much more harmless than anything else that might be waiting for him on the island.

But, Sam and Cas were on that island, and if saving his lost brothers meant stepping foot on some creepy-ass island, then so be it.

So, Dean stood from his seat on the boat and climbed onto the rickety port, still hugging his arms around his damp frame. The splintery, wooden planks of the port stung the hunter’s bare feet as he made his way across it towards the little village.

Dean turned his head around to look back at the ferryman’s boat, but when he did so, he was surprised to see that the ferryman and his long boat were gone without a trace. The hunter stopped and just stared out in confusion at the spot where the skeleton should have been, eyes darting around hoping to see at least ripples from where the boat had departed.

But the ferryman was gone as quick as he had appeared.

Shaking his head, Dean then turned back around and continued making his way down the port. The little village looked very poor and run down as its falling apart buildings carried straw rooves with wide holes here and there. Beside from that, though, the village seemed to be normal, nothing too special about it – other than the fact that it looked like it could be right off the pages of a storybook. The real peculiar thing about it, though, was when the people started to come out of their homes.

A door to one of the misshapen houses suddenly opened with a loud screech. The person who resurfaced from it was a man. Not just any man, though, for this man…was three feet tall and had pointed ears.

Warts covered his face, fingers, and toes as his ears extended far out from his head, which was the biggest part of his body. Everything about the man’s face was large: his nose, lips, narrowed eyes, and even just his entire skull. Alongside that, his hands and feet were oversized and covered in hair. If Dean didn’t know any better, this small man looked exactly like some sort of dwarf or troll.

The troll turned towards Dean, who jumped slightly at the sight of such a small, ugly person, and gasped suddenly. The troll just stared at the hunter for a while before he asked in a hesitant voice, “Are you a human?”

Dean blinked at the little troll before replying just as hesitantly, “Uh…yes?”

The dwarf straightened up a little bit and looked around before asking, “What are you doing here?”

Dean’s eyes darted around for a second or two before landing back on the pointy-eared man. “I’m looking for my brother and friend.”

The troll didn’t reply for a second before tilting his head. “Would they be as tall as you are?”

“Um… Kinda, my brother’s a little taller and my friend is a little shorter than me, I guess,” Dean replied as he shifted from foot to foot, still a little weirded out by the fact that he was talking to an elf.

The troll pursed his lips for a second before asking again, “Did one have long, brown hair and the other have a tan overcoat?”

Dean’s eyes widened and he took a step forward, excited that the little troll before him had seen his brothers. “You’ve seen them!? Where!? Where are they!? Are they-?”

The dwarf suddenly backed up from the hunter approaching him and shook his head as he snapped, “I haven’t seen them!”

Dean stopped. “What? Of course you have! You just described them!”

The man shook his head. “No, I just heard about them from my brother-in-law. He works as a lumberjack on the edge of town,” The little man pointed down the street. “They had come by his cabin pleading for food.”

Dean’s eyes widened in shock and fear. They were pleading for food? That must mean that they’re hurt or something! His head shot up to look down the street. He had to hurry! They were in danger!

After Dean turned to the troll one last time to say a quick ‘thank you’, he began racing down the road, slipping a few times on the wet mud. He had to get to them before something else happened to them! He would kill himself if they were hurt.

 

 

Sam could barely breathe anymore and his heart felt like it was going to explode out of his chest as he ran through the forest. His feet ached as they ripped and tore on the sharp rocks and twigs of the forest floor. His hands scrapped against the dark green trees that darted past him.

He couldn’t quite remember what he was running from, all he knew was that he had to get away from something. This forest, maybe? The wisps of light? The voices in the distance?

Himself?

Suddenly, Sam tripped on an uncovered root and the young hunter found himself falling down a cliff that seemed to have been produced by a landslide. The terrible terrain scraped and tore at his skin and clothes. The roots of trees gashed at his arms like knives and the boulders sticking out from the side of the cliff rammed into his sides with the force of giant fists. Sam’s descent appeared to be infinite and his torturous wounds seemed to be continuously doubling. Finally, after tumbling on forever, Sam found himself roll onto hard and pointy pebbles.

The young man groaned in pain. Everything hurt. His skin was torn both from tripping and falling through the forest and from rolling down the landslide aftermath. His head also still slightly throbbed from the horrid sticks that were protruding from his bleeding scalp. He had no idea how he was still alive, or at least still conscious. After all, who could possibly be alive after getting branches jammed into their brain?

Sam lifted his head once he suddenly realized that he could hear the sound of rushing water right next to him. When his forehead rose from the painful pebbles and his eyes finally focused, the young hunter was then greeted with the fabulous sight of rushing water belonging to a small riverbed not too far away from him. A breath of happiness escaped from Sam’s lips that were previously curled up in a painful grimace. He hadn’t realized how thirsty he was until he saw this beautiful steam. So, with much difficulty, the young hunter then started to drag himself over to the small creek.

As Sam made his way over to the water, groans and grunts of pain and agony escaped from Sam’s mouth as the pebbles on the riverbed rubbed against his bleeding skin that had been ripped open from his tragic fall. Finally, after what seemed like forever, the young hunter found himself right in front of the stream.

He let a sigh of relief leave his mouth as he dipped his hand into the river and brought it up to his lips. Sam knew how dangerous drinking unfiltered water could be, but at the moment, he didn’t care one bit. He just needed water so badly.

Sam slurped up the beautiful, crisp water, and another sigh found its way out of his mouth. It was the most spectacular water that he had ever drank in his entire life. However, it was most likely because of how incredibly thirsty he was. There didn’t seem to be anything more amazing than just plain water at the moment. So, Sam found himself greedily shoveling the clear liquid into his mouth, slurping it up in desperation, not even caring about the embarrassing moans of satisfaction that slipped from his lips.

After he had gotten his fill of water, Sam let his hand come down in front of him. He let deep breaths come out as he absorbed the knowledge that he was safe, for at least the time being. He wasn’t exactly sure what he thought he had to run from, though he was pretty sure it had something to do with the wisps of light that had danced around the forest when he had woken up. But, he wasn’t going to worry about that for now. Right now, he was just going to think about himself and what to do next.

Sam suddenly remembered about the dried blood that was clinging to his forehead and eyebrows. He supposed he could – and should clean that off. And he should also probably think about how to safely remove the two sticks that were jammed into his head.

The young hunter dragged himself closer to the water until he could see the reflection of himself. It wasn’t totally clear, as it was moving water, but there was at least a partial image. Enough for him to see the blood and the….

Sam’s eyebrows furrowed in confusion. His hand slowly started to raise up to the two objects sticking out of his head. Suddenly, he couldn’t help himself from slipping out two words as he stared at the objects. “The hell…?”

Sam’s eyes darted across the rippling reflection of himself, for the two objects that were protruding from his scalp were not sticks. No, and Sam couldn’t decide if he was relieved or horrified when he found that, resting atop his head, were two, large, horrifying antlers.

Once Sam’s brain had registered what exactly was protruding from his scalp, a sudden yelp escaped from his mouth and, despite all the pain, his body shot up into a standing position. Regardless of all the fear and shock building up inside of him, though, Sam just kept staring at the two impressive antlers that were mounted on his head.

After a while of just staring at the antlers, Sam finally took a step forward and kneeled down in front of the water. He then began moving his head in different ways in order to examine the heavy weights on his head. His hand came up to one of them and began to trace their way along where the antlers were sprouting from his scalp.

“The hell…!?” Sam repeated as he found that they were, in fact, _growing_ from his head.

His hands then fell down to his lap and he continued to stare at himself in confusion, shock, and something else he could quite place. For some time, the young hunter just sat there, examining the newly grown antlers before his head suddenly dropped into his hands.

The young hunter began to shake as he whispered to himself, “No, no… This is just a dream…just a dream… People don’t just _grow_ antlers… It’s just not _possible_ …! You’re just being crazy, Sam… Just being…”

Sam couldn’t finish his sentence as he, uncontrollably, broke into strangled sobs. At first, there was absolutely no reason at all for the young hunter’s sudden tears. It just… _happened_. Maybe he _was_ going crazy. Though, he could tell how comforting that thought was. Part of him wanted to be completely and utterly cuckoo, there would be nothing wrong then. He might even be safe and sound in the bunker still, if that was the case. He wouldn’t be in some, unknown world, Cas wouldn’t be lost and possibly hurt, and Sam wouldn’t have _antlers_ sticking out of his _scalp_. Though, if that was the case, he would have to deal with the very fact that he entirely insane. Which is something no one would want to find out.

After some time, Sam suddenly started to realize that, the more he cried, the more reasons why his emotions were acting up came to mind. He was hungry, he told himself, he was hurting everywhere, there were goddamn _antlers_ growing from his head… The biggest reason, however, might have even been the fact that he was dealing with it all alone.

_Why are you crying, Cernunnos*?_

Sam’s sobs suddenly stopped as he froze and his body straightened up.

_Did we do something wrong?_

Sam lifted his head to see, from the trees and across the creek, the same dancing wisps of light from before emerge from the leaves.

_But we did everything for you, did we not?_

Sam sniffled as the lights grew closer.

_We offered you a tree, and you ate from it. We gave you a river, and you drank from it. What more do you seek, Cernunnos?_

Sam’s eyes traced across the three dancing lights in front of him. They were the ones talking, right? But who were they? And why did they keep calling him Cernunnos?

“Who are you?” the young hunter asked.

There was a small gasp that came from the lights as they moved back suddenly. _Who are we? Cernunnos, do you really not remember?_

Sam blinked a few times in confusion. “Yeah, and why do you keep calling me ‘Cernunnos’?”

One of the lights seemed to turn to one of its ‘friends’. _That must be why Cernunnos left in the first place!_ The light then turned back to Sam. _Is that why you left us, Cernunnos?_

“Okay, look,” Sam began in an exasperated voice. He was pretty much done with these freaky lights pestering him all the time. “I have no idea what you’re talking about and I’m _not_ ‘Cernunnos’!”

The light then moved closer to the young man. _No, you’re just confused, Cernunnos!_

“No, _you’re_ confused!” Sam snapped as he waved a hand in front of it, in hopes of shooing it away, which worked slightly as it backed away just a little bit. “You’ve got the wrong guy!” He then stood up and began to walk away from the three lights. “Now leave me alone!”

_No, wait, Cernunnos!_

Suddenly, one of the lights flew in front of Sam’s path, making him stop and glare at it. He was shocked, however, to find that it now had a fragile form to it. It had a large, round head and a swaying dress that looked much like a cloud of bright, yellow light. Its face held two small eyes and a delicate mouth and its dress appeared to be its only body as it adorned no arms nor legs.

_You ate from our tree that we set out for you, Cernunnos! It was meant for you!_

Another light came into his view, with the same form except for the fact that it had two, little arms sprouting from its sides.

_Only Cernunnos can eat from the tree._

Sam turned around, only for the two lights to follow him and join the third that had been behind him. The third light, again, looked exactly like the second except it had two little feet sprouting from under its dress.

_And when he does, he comes back to us._

Sam’s eyebrows knit together. “Okay, look, guys. Just because I ate from your tree does _not_ mean I’m this ‘Cernunnos’ guy.”

_Oh, yes it does!_ The first cheered with a nod of its head.

_We know so!_ The second declared with a wave of its arms.

_Yes, we know!_ The third giggled with a shake of its legs.

Sam’s eyes darted along the three of the wisps as he suddenly felt his heartbeat quick in anxiety. There was something very eerie about these three, little wisps. “How?”

The second wisp’s stout arms reached up to where its little mouth should be and giggled into its hands. _Because they grew back!_

The first wisp’s round face nodded like a bobble-head. _Yes, they had fallen off before!_

The third wisp’s little legs kicked around as it reached one arm up and pointed at Sam’s head. _But once you ate the fruit we gave you, they grew back!_

Sam’s eyes widened as he followed the third wisp’s finger. The young hunter’s hand reached up hesitantly and rested near his newly grown antlers. There was _definitely_ something suspicious about these three lights, something that made shivers run down Sam’s spine as he couldn’t help but shake the feeling that they had something to do with his current predicament. “You guys,” His fingers felt the rough material of the horrible antlers. “What did you do to me?”

The second wisp giggled into its hands again. _We brought you back!_

The first wisp nodded its giant head. _It’s been so lonely without you!_

The third wisp waved its little arms next to its sides in excitement. _And now that you’re back…_

A smile graced the wisps’ features as they all said in unison, _…We’ll never let you go!_

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> *Cernunnos: A 'horned god' of Norse mythology who is depicted with adorning stag antlers, which are usually on their early stages of their annual growth with torcs hanging from them, and sitting cross-legged with several types of animals. Cernunnos is now known by historians as the 'Lord of Wild Things' because of his suspected love for animals and creatures of all types.


	4. The Trees of Dodona

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Dean finds the dwarf village's lumberjack, hoping for a lead on where Sam and Cas might be. After some persuasion, the lumberjack finally tells him that he'd inform Dean on where his lost brothers are, but only if he does a 'tiny' favor for him. Little does Dean know, though, that the job might not be as easy, or as normal, as he thinks it's going to be.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Here's the next chapter! Please don't forget to comment, I'd really appreciate it!  
> Thanks and enjoy! XD

After running down the muddy road of the strange, little village, Dean arrived at an old cabin, of which had a few planks of house half-broken and the poles that held up the porch let out long moans every so often. Outside the messy building were fenced-out squares of land with signs on each one that read ‘wood’. Despite the signs, however, the squares were empty. His heart was racing and he was out of breath as he stepped up towards the door and knocked on it.

“Hello? Is anyone home?” the hunter called out.

The door suddenly flew open so ferociously that, when the little troll opened the door, it broke off the rusty hinges leaving only the dwarf’s hand to hold it in place. The little person in the doorway looked almost exactly like the troll near the port, except that this one had a deep scowl plastered onto his face.

“I already told you! I don’t have any-” The troll stopped his screaming when he suddenly realized that Dean was not the person he was expecting to be at his door. The dwarf’s eyes glanced up to glare at the young hunter’s face. “Oh, another human, huh?”

Dean’s eyes widened, surprised by the troll’s aggressive behavior. “Uh… Yeah, I’m here looking for my brother and-”

“Haven’t seen ‘em,” the dwarf interrupted him shortly.

Dean’s eyebrows furrowed. “What do you _mean_? I didn’t even finish my _sentence_!”

The troll shook his head. “I don’t need to hear the rest to know I haven’t seen ‘em.”

Dean was starting to get a little annoyed with this elf’s attitude. “Look, buddy, I know they came here! Your brother-in-law or whatever told me!”

The troll’s eyes widened in shock. “He did?”

“Yeah!”

The little troll shook his head again as he looked down the street in the direction of where the dwarf near the port lived. “That little—”

“And they were pleading for food, so that _must_ mean they’re in trouble! So, where are they!?” Dean demanded.

The troll looked back up at Dean with narrowed eyes. “Why should I tell you?”

Suddenly, out of frustration, Dean reached a hand down and lifted the little troll into the air by the collar of his shirt. He glared menacingly into the dwarf’s eyes as he growled, “Because it would be in your best interest.”

This action didn’t seem to change anything in the dwarf’s stubborn mind as he just glared right back at the hunter for a while, before muttering through his teeth, “I’ll tell you where they are…”

“Thank you,” Dean replied before going to put the dwarf back down.

“On one condition!” the troll suddenly announced. Dean’s eyes narrowed menacingly again, however it still didn’t seem to intimidate the troll whatsoever. “Go into the forest and bring me back some firewood for my village.”

Dean glanced over at the empty squares of fenced-off land. “Why can’t you do it? Aren’t you a lumberjack?”

“The trees…they won’t cooperate.” Dean’s eyebrows furrowed in confusion, making the dwarf roll his eyes. “I can’t, let’s just say that.”

Dean stared at the ugly troll in his hand. He didn’t have time for this. He had to find Sam and Cas before something happened to them. Who knows what dangers could’ve gotten to them while he was stuck here in a village full of trolls? But, this dwarf, despite being a huge pain in the ass, was the only lead he had. Besides, how hard could just cutting down one tree be?

So, Dean put the troll down and muttered as he rolled his eyes, “Fine, I’ll go get your goddamn wood.”

“Thank you!” the dwarf said with and exasperated voice as he lifted his arms up to extenuate his annoyed relief. He then reached into his little home and pulled out an axe that seemed a little too big for his tiny frame. “Here, you’ll need this to cut down a tree.”

“Thanks,” Dean mumbled as he yanked the axe away from the dwarf, and with that, the hunter began to make his way into the forest.

 

 

Dean had been walking through the forest for quite a while, trying to find a tree that looked easy enough to cut down. His feet were now quite sore from walking barefoot everywhere. He really needed to get some shoes at some point.

Finally, Dean stopped in front of a scraggly, little apple tree – which seemed oddly placed in the forest he was in. It wouldn’t have _that_ much firewood on it, but it’d have to do. Besides, Dean didn’t really care about those ugly-ass trolls living in that tiny village, anyway.

So, Dean went up to the tree, steadied himself, and with one mighty swing, drove into it with his axe. Suddenly, there was a loud and painful scream that came from in front of him. Dean looked around, bewildered, but found no one. The hunter’s hair began to stand up on end, before another scream was sounded, and with it, the scraggly tree he had tried to cut down twisted around to face him.

The sight that Dean was confronted with made him jump a few inches off the ground from shock. The tree’s bark was growing in such a way that eyes, a nose, and mouth had now etched its way onto the side of it. Its long nose hung down in a such a way that it was almost touching its upper lip; the eyes of the tree was narrowed and sunk down deep within the trunk almost as if they were large abysses into its face. Dean would’ve thought that it was quite possibly a figment of his imagination if it wasn’t for the fact that the face’s mouth began to move as it continued to scream out in pain.

“Ow, ow, ow, ow, ow!” the tree yowled. Its face was riddled with pain as it scrunched and unscrunched repeatedly. “What’d ya do that for!?”

Dean’s eyes widened in shock and fear as he gasped and released the axe from his hands, stepping back a few paces. What the hell was he seeing? He had to be going crazy! Sure, he had seen a lot of weird things today – skeletons and trolls, for example – but a _talking_ _tree_!? That _had_ to be the cherry on top of the ‘weird shit that could possibly or not possibly exist’ sundae. _Nothing_ could be weirder than a tree that screams and asks why you tried to cut it down.

“Um…” Dean began, not knowing how to respond to a tree.

“Umm!? Don’t you ‘umm’ me! You almost _killed_ me!” the tree scolded, its face now extremely infuriated.

Suddenly, a tall ash tree with blue leaves and a pitch-black trunk nearby twisted around in the place where its roots were firmly interweaved into the ground so that it could reveal a terrifying face as well. The new tree then opened its mouth and asked in a deep, lazy voice, “Everything okay over here, guys?”

“ _No_! Everything’s not okay!” the apple tree snapped to the ash tree.

There was a pause before the other tree asked, “Why’s that?”

“Why’s that? _Why’s that_!?” the first tree repeated. “What do you _think_!? I have a goddamn _axe_ stuck in me!”

There was another pause before the lazy tree asked again, “Why?”

“I don’t _know_! You think I would _know_ why some serial killer would just walk up and hack me down!?”

“…Well… yea-”

“ _No_ , Fraxinus! No! I _wouldn’t_! Ya wanna know _why_!?”

“…Uh… sure?”

“Because I’m a _civilized_ Plantae,” The apple tree then turned back to Dean to give him the hairy eyeball before continuing, “And not a deranged _axe_ _murderer_!”

Suddenly, feeling a little offended that he was being scolded at by a tree, Dean put out his hands and defended, “Okay, guys, I can explain!”

“There’s no explaining to be done here, you _murderer_!” the apple tree snapped.

“I’m not a _murderer_!” Dean defended again. “I just needed-”

“You needed to _kill_! That’s what you needed!”

“I didn’t need to-”

“Because you’re a serial axe murderer!”

“I’m not an _axe_ _murderer_! If you’d just let me explain-”

“No!” Suddenly, a branch from the apple tree came down and, like a hand, pointed at the young hunter. “You tried to kill me, murderer! Now you must suffer the-”

“Malus!” A woman’s voice suddenly was heard from behind them, making Dean turn around to see a chestnut tree with a calm and gentle face staring at the small, apple tree. “That’s enough hassling for one day, don’t you think?”

“But, Castanea! This human just tried to-” the apple tree started to defend, only to be interrupted by the lovely chestnut tree again.

“All for good reason, I believe.” She – at least it seemed that it was a female – glanced at Dean with a kind smile, which comforted the hunter for some reason.

“All for good reason!? Castanea, he tried to-”

“I know what he tried to do, Malus.”

“Then why are you trying to defend this deranged human!? Do you not care about my well-being at all!?”

“No,” the ash tree said in his blunt and sleepy way.

“Oh, just shut up, Fraxinus!” the apple tree snapped.

Ignoring the two bickering – and quite annoying – trees in the background, the chestnut tree moved her head down in way that looked like a nod. “Go ahead, strange human. Explain why you tried to cut down Malus.”

“Um…” Dean started, shifting a little. How in the world would he talk to a tree? What was he supposed to say? “I-I needed firewood. I had no idea that you were… _alive_ , though.”

“What, you think we were _dead_ or something?” Malus asked exasperatedly.

Dean turned around to face the angry apple tree that still had his axe stuck in its trunk. “No, well… I don’t know, I just didn’t think you’d…wake up.”

“I see, human,” Castanea nodded again with her gentle smile ever present on her face. “If you want firewood, I shall give it to you then.”

“Wait, wait, _what_!?” Malus exclaimed. “You’re handing yourself over to this _maniac_!?”

Castanea giggled before her face twisted on her trunk in such a way that Dean guessed was her shaking her ‘head’. “No, Malus. But I will give you some of my old branches, young human. They might not make the _best_ firewood in the world, but I’m sure you won’t mind.”

Dean smiled a little as Castanea reached some old braches down in front of him. He then went back over to Malus, who kept yelling at him, before he retrieved his axe and came back to the kind, chestnut tree. He then began to cut off the old branches that were hanging down. Dean didn’t know if these branches were satisfactory or not, but, truthfully, he didn’t care one bit.

After he had an arm-full of branches, he thanked the kind tree and began on his way back to the grumpy, old troll. It took him about ten minutes before he came up to the lumberjack’s cabin, who was working on putting his door back on the doorframe.

“Ah! You came back…?” the troll asked in a surprisingly alarmed voice once Dean came into view. “And with firewood, it seems?”

Dean nodded and threw the old sticks down in front of the little dwarf. “Yeah, I got your stupid sticks.” He then looked back down at the lumberjack with an annoyed glare. “Now, where did my brother and friend go?”

The troll shook his head as he examined the sticks. “I don’t understand,” He then looked back up at the hunter. “How did you-?”

“How did I get firewood from talking trees?” Dean finished the troll’s question. “Doesn’t matter. What _does_ matter, however, is where the other two humans went.”

The troll shook his head, still shocked that Dean had actually done as he had asked. He then pointed down the path that led into the forest. “They, uh, went into the forest after I couldn’t give them any food. I didn’t even have any for myself, either, since business has been kinda slow, lately. So, they went to go find food somewhere else.”

Dean nodded. That was even more troubling. His brothers were still starving out there, which made them even more susceptible to whatever dangers were lurking in the darkness of the trees.

The hunter mumbled a quick ‘thanks’ to the ugly, little troll, before starting to walk towards the path leading into the forest. Before he could really go anywhere, though, he heard the dwarf behind him call out, “Hey, wait!”

Dean turned around in order to face the troll who was still in front of his pile of chestnut tree branches. “I can’t thank you enough for these branches, human. This will really help my village and give me enough money to eat for a month or two!”

“Yeah, no problem. But I really need to-” Dean began, feeling rather urgent to get a move on.

“So,” the dwarf demanded. “I’d like to grant you safe passage through the forest. It’s a very treacherous wood and I’d like to make sure you get where you’re going.” He then pointed to a little cabin a little ways down the road. “My nephew, Crimini, rides his carriage through the forest all the time. Tell him what you’ve done for us and he will surely bring you there.”

Dean’s eyebrows raised in shock. “Thank you...! That’s actually really helpful!”

The troll nodded with a smile. “You are very welcome, young human.” He then stepped forward and put out a broad hand. “My name’s Portobello, by the way.”

The hunter stepped forward and shook the troll’s little hand as he nodded and replied, “Dean.”

Portobello nodded again and stepped back. “Well, Dean, it’s been a pleasure, but I’d suggest you go find your brother and friend.” He shook his head with pursed lips. “Those woods aren’t for the faint of heart.” His eyes then settled back on Dean’s grim expression. “I hope you find those boys. I felt so bad about not being able to help them out except for giving them directions.”

“Directions? Where to?”

Portobello nodded as he gestured to the trees. “There’s a couple of houses just on the other side of the forest. I told them they could go see if the residents there would be of any service.” The dwarf then shook his head with a grim face. “I don’t know if that was a good idea or not.”

Dean’s eyebrows furrowed. “Why do you say that?”

Portobello looked back up at the hunter. “I’ve never been too fond of the kind of people on the other side of the forest, so consumed in their rice farming. But recently, there’s just been something _off_ about them. Ever since…” The old troll didn’t say anything for a while before he shook his head once more and looked back up at Dean. “Well, you should be going on your way.”

Dean nodded, but he couldn’t help but feel very unsettled by what Portobello had told him. Not only were his brothers lost and hungry, but they probably paid a visit to a bunch of rather suspicious people? He really needed to find them quickly, he couldn’t stand the feeling of wondering if something terrible had happened to them.

They were probably fine, Dean tried to tell himself. It was the second-best demon hunter in the world and an angel who had both stopped the apocalypse with him that he was talking about. They could survive walking through a damn forest. No matter how many times he tried to tell himself this, however, Dean couldn’t shake the horrible feeling that told him that something terrible had happened to his brothers.

Something worse than could possibly be imagined.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> *The Trees of Dodona: Dodona, an ancient city in Greece, was said to harbor only trees that spoke prophecies, dead or alive. When the ship Argo was made with the wood from these trees, it whispered prophecies of upcoming disasters.


	5. The Bakeneko

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> After catching a ride from Portobello's nephew, Dean finds himself in a Japanese rice farm where he meets two farmers whose home is being terrorized by a hideous monster preparing to curse the both of them. In return for expected information on Sam and Cas' whereabouts, Dean decides to try and kill the monster hiding in their home, only problem is, this so-called 'monster' might not be what it looks to be at all.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm so sorry for such the long wait! School's been really busy, but now that it's done I'm gonna try and get back on track. I am going away in a week or two, so next week's chapter may take some time. Thank you to MysticalLight6 for your comment, it forced me to get my act together to publish this! ;)  
> I hope you guys enjoy this chapter! It's an important one!  
> Thanks!

After Dean’s talk with Portobello, the hunter went to Crimini and asked for a ride, who was actually overjoyed to help him out. It had taken about ten minutes before the young troll had set up his carriage, which looked like a normal, black, Victorian-style, horse-drawn coach. Now, Dean was sitting on the comfortable, padded seat and watching the trees go by.

The view of the ‘very treacherous forest’ was actually quite pleasant from this angle, just sitting safely in a hooded carriage. It would’ve been even more pleasant if it hadn’t been for the terrible gut-feeling Dean had of that Sam and Cas were in danger, though.

The scenery outside the carriage window suddenly changed dramatically as Crimini’s carriage had taken Dean outside of the eerie forest. The hunter now watched as the trees thinned out and he was now surrounded in expansive rice fields that stretched out for a few miles or so; lush grass grew out from the field that was drenched in glistening, dark blue water. Enormous, dark, billowing clouds rolled across the fog-ridden sky, which brushed alongside the tops of the rocky, bush-covered mountains surrounding the field, leaving the distant hills stained with a gentle shade of grey. There were a few Japanese-styled houses scattered all around the rice fields as well. Dean felt a gasp leave his mouth as he suddenly felt as if he was in the countryside of Asia. He wondered for a split second, however, why there was no farmer to be seen for miles, but he assumed that it was just because it was growing dark.

Crimini’s carriage suddenly stopped in front one of the little Japanese houses, making Dean be jerked from his trance. The hunter then stepped out of the carriage with a medieval-styled satchel that Portobello had given him, thanked the young troll, before his ride turned around and began to make its way back into the forest. Dean then looked over to the house and, with a sigh, began to make his way towards it. Even if this house hadn’t seen Sam or Cas, the residents might have heard about them.

Before Dean could go anywhere, though, a young, Japanese woman in a beautiful, red kimono suddenly ran out of the house as she screamed, “ _Tasukete_!”

Dean’s eyes widened as she suddenly ran up to him, chanting the same gibberish to him as she grabbed onto his arms. Her long, black hair waved wildly as she frantically shook him while tears streamed down her face.

“Whoa, whoa!” Dean shouted, in an attempt to make the terrified woman relax, even if it was only a little bit. “Calm down!” He looked into the woman’s eyes gently, making her chanting stop as she continued to cry and breath loudly. “Do you speak English?”

The woman nodded as her breathing made it almost impossible for her to respond with words.

“Okay, then what happened?” Dean asked.

“Bakeneko!” the young woman answered in a terrified voice. “He’s a bakeneko! He came into our house! We didn’t know what he was! He looked like a man! He tricked us! He’s going to curse us! He’s going to curse me and my father! He’s going to-”

“Okay, okay, calm down. Calm down,” Dean interrupted her softly. “Now, tell me what happened. Slower this time, oka-”

“Aiya!” a man’s voice called. They both looked up to see an old man standing in the doorway of the house that the woman had run from. He had a stern but slightly scared face and wore a blue kimono. His wise eyes then went to stare into Dean’s before he asked, “Who are you and what do you want?”

Dean stood straight before he answered firmly, “Name’s Dean. I was looking for my brother and friend when your daughter, I assume, came up to me screaming.” He then squinted his eyes in a knowing manner. “What exactly is a bakeneko?”

The old man just stared at him for a while before he sighed and seemed to relax his firm shoulders. His stern and serious face hinted to Dean just how scared this man was of the ‘bakeneko’.

“Why do you want to know?” the old man asked.

“I’d like to help,” Dean replied.

The old man paused for a moment, probably trying to decide if Dean could really be of help to him or not. But, after a while, the man then stepped aside and gestured with his hand for Dean to enter his house before he said calmly, “Come inside, Dean- _san_. I’ll tell you what happened, and if you still are up to helping us you may.”

 

 

Their house was very beautiful with the standard, old-fashioned Japanese style. Aiya – the young woman – had lit lanterns around the house, as it had gotten quite dark outside from a sudden rainstorm. And Fujita – Aiya’s father – had sat Dean down at a low table on a red pillow as he served the hunter some green tea, which Dean had decided not to touch, as he had never been much of a tea person.

“So,” Dean began once Aiya sat beside her father at the table. “You said you saw a bakeneko?”

Fujita nodded. “Yes.”

“And what exactly _is_ a ‘bakeneko’?” Dean asked.

“It’s a terrible creature that looks like a cat! It’s a monster!” Aiya suddenly exclaimed.

Fujita shot his daughter a look before answering Dean in a reasonable and polite tone, “It’s a kind of yōkai, which is a supernatural monster or spirit. It looks like a cat but can change its shape to resemble a man.”

“It curses and possesses people!” Aiya interrupted loudly with a terrified expression.

“Aiya!” Fujita scolded quietly before he leaned in to hiss at her, “Be quiet! He could…” The rest of the old man’s words were left inaudible to Dean’s ears.

Dean’s eyes darted between the two before he asked again, “And you said you saw one?”

Fujita nodded. “Last night, we were visited by a man. He came to us alone, scared, and incredibly hungry. He seemed rather nice, so we invited him into our home and gave him some rice and mikan. For quite some time, we all were actually having quite a good time with him, he told us stories and we listened. He was just telling us of what had just happened to him in the forest when…” The old man’s face turned grim. “He suddenly started to change shape…turning into a…a…”

“A bakeneko…” Aiya finished in a low and hushed tone, making Fujita nod again as the two’s faces were ridden with their horror of the memory.

Dean nodded as well, before he leaned forward and asked, “Did it hurt you?”

The old man shook his head. “Well, no,” He then turned to look down a hallway behind him and point to the first door on the left. “It did run into that room, though.”

Dean stopped. “Wait…” he breathed, “You mean… it’s still here…?”

Fujita nodded slowly as Aiya whispered frantically, “Yes! It’s horrifying, Dean- _san_! Horrifying! The man was just eating our food, and then suddenly, a few minutes later, he started coughing up the fruit! His body began to grow hair as he started shrinking down to the floor! His fur was coarse and held together in jagged clumps, which were scorched the color of a black I’ve never seen before! It was blacker than night! His eyes were huge, fiery, and blazing a demonic blue, a color that could steal your soul! I didn’t dare gaze into them, though! I’ve heard the stories. One look and he’s already eaten your soul all up!”

Dean nodded again as looked into the hall that was drenched in dark shadows, studying the two doors that were shut and had an overturned table in front of it. So, there was a monster-cat in that room, huh? He knew he should be looking for Sam and Cas, but there was something about this that made him think that this would lead him somewhere. These people had probably seen, or at least heard about, his two brothers, so if he could at least help them out, they would probably help him out too, just like Portobello had.

Dean nodded once more, determination flashing in his eyes as he looked back at the two terrified rice farmers. “Alright, so what do I do?”

Fujita and Aiya smiled brightly at him as the old man asked, “You’ll help us?”

Dean nodded once and quickly asked again, “Yeah, so what do I have to do to stop this bakeneko?”

Fujita, with a determined expression, slowly stood up and walked over to the dresser beside the wall nearby. He then took a glistening, Japanese dagger from the top of it and walked back over to the table. The old man then went back down to kneel on his pillow and unsheathe the blade gently. He then handed it to Dean with a firm face and told him as Aiya handed him a plate of raw fish, “Offer the bakeneko this fish, it hasn’t eaten all day as we trapped it in that room last night. It will come willingly since it’s been hungry from the moment it came here yesterday. While it is distracted, stab the bakeneko through the heart with this dagger. Bring us back his dead corpse and we’ll thank you generously.”

Dean looked down at the beautiful dagger with its white, woven hilt. He could see a clear reflection of himself in the polished metal, his calm face held no expression. He was going to kill that monster-cat and force the information of his brothers’ whereabouts out of these two, terrified people. He was going to find them and get back home, out of this terrifying place where skeletons rode boats, trolls couldn’t do their jobs, trees talked, and monster-cats terrorized innocent rice farmers. And if that meant killing a stupid, hungry cat to do so, then so be it.

The hunter then told the two residents of the house to go wait outside for him. Once Aiya and Fujita were gone, Dean slowly made his way, with the dagger and plate of fish, towards the doors that held the bakeneko.

He found himself staring right at the two doors and gently moved the table away from them. He took one, steady breath before he slid one of the doors open slightly, listening intently to the low, moan of the door, before sliding the plate of fish into the middle of the room. He couldn’t help but notice how wrecked the room was, with its overturned dressers, ripped paintings, and fallen tapestries. Dean crouched down in front of the opening of the doors and waited patiently for the stupid cat to come into view and start its last meal.

Dean waited for a couple of seconds, worrying that his breathing was too loud, before, suddenly, from behind an overturned dresser that had a Japanese tapestry lying over it, a little, black head shot up. Its big, blue eyes held enormously wide, dark pupils and its tiny, black ears stuck flat against its head as its nose sniffed the air like crazy. Its little mouth was slightly open as all of its attention was focused solely on the plate of raw fish in the center of the room.

After what seemed like forever, the little, black cat that was hiding behind the dresser finally rested two, tiny, ebony paws on the tapestry. Its head rose up a little bit at a time, neck stretched out as far as it possibly could, as its ears came up and down from resting on its head again.

Suddenly, taking its chance, the black cat darted forward, crouching close to the ground as if it was stalking prey. Once it reached the raw fish, the cat sniffed it a few times before tearing into its offered food. Its fur stood on end slightly and its eyes were wide, as if waiting for the moment when something would jump out and attack it. Clearly, this cat wasn’t as dumb as one would take it to be, for it could sense the trap easily. It didn’t seem to care, however, as it was just so hungry that even falling into a trap was worth it as long as it got something to eat.

The more Dean watched this ‘monster-cat’, however, the less monstrous it seemed. This ‘bakeneko’ just seemed to be a regular cat who was just very hungry and even seemed a little spooked. So much so, that Dean didn’t even know if he had the heart to kill it. It was just so…innocent. And, that was saying something, because, being rather allergic, Dean despised cats, which reminded him of how much he hoped his sneezing wouldn’t get in the way of his job.

But, if killing this damn cat meant finding his lost and starving brothers, Dean would kill it without a second thought.

Dean waited, watching the black cat eat its meal, until he suddenly noticed the feline relax a little bit, thinking that, since no one had attacked it yet, it must be in the clear. The hunter wasn’t going to let this sliver of a moment slip away, so, with one effortless action, Dean flew through the door, grabbed the helpless, little, black cat, and pinned it to the ground.

Dean found himself staring murderously into the big, blue eyes of the black cat, who could do nothing but stare helplessly right back. Its little ears were pressed flat against its head, this time, however, in utter fear. And its little paws, surprisingly, were wrapping their way around Dean’s sturdy arm and pushing fiercely against him as if trying to pry the hunter’s hand away from its neck.

Suddenly, as he was lifting the Japanese dagger in the air, Dean saw something flash in the cat’s blue eyes, something that looked a lot like recognition. Its ears flew up in alarm and its paws froze in place on the hunter’s wrist as its little, black head cocked to the side. And, in an incredibly familiar voice, asked quietly, “Dean?”

Dean’s hand flinched and his eyes gazed into the cat’s even more intensely. Did the cat just speak? The tone was incredibly surprising as well because, for such an adorable, little cat, he would have never expected in a million years that this little guy would have such a…deep and rough voice. And Dean could swear he had heard someone say his name in that exact way before. But it was so hard to place a face to it when it was coming from a cat. Dean almost didn’t think he could kill the damn thing as it asked again in that insanely familiar voice, “Dean, is that you?”

But, he had to. It was for his brothers, he told himself. All for his brothers.

So, Dean pushed away all feeling and rose the dagger up and began to lunge it towards the cat’s heart. Suddenly, however, one of the cat’s paws went up and put it in front of the hunter in a very _human_ signal for ‘stop’. “Dean, Dean! Stop, wait!” Dean’s arm froze in place again, not being able to stab something that sounded so familiar. “It’s me, it’s me! Castiel!”

Dean’s eyes suddenly widened. That was it. That was where he had heard this cat’s voice before. It was the voice of someone he knew very well. One of his best friends. One of his lost brothers. Castiel.

Dean scanned his eyes over the little, black cat with the piercing, blue eyes. Those eyes… He would recognize that color anywhere. They were the same ones’ that belonged to his beloved brother, Castiel.

Dean’s eyes softened instantly, eyebrows furrowing in guilt, as he whispered quietly and hesitantly, not wanting to believe what the tiny creature under his hand was saying, “Cas?”

The black cat’s little head nodded with a small smile in relief as its arm rested back down on Dean’s huge wrist. “Yes…!”

Dean’s eyebrows furrowed and his eyes softened completely as his arm suddenly moved backwards and let the dagger slide out of his hand to make a loud clank on the floor. He then released his grip on the black cat beneath him to flop down and stare into the little creature on the wooden planks. To stare into the changed eyes of Castiel.

The little cat – Castiel – began to gasp for the breath that had been cut off from him by Dean’s hand. His tiny paw came up to rub at his throat, massaging his fluffy neck.

Dean’s eyes darted around the little, furry creature, who was apparently Castiel. This had to be the strangest thing he had seen all day, by far. Forget skeletons, trolls, and talking trees! He was now staring at his best friend who had been turned into a puny, little cat!

Dean blinked a few times before asking hesitantly, “H-How is this even… _possible_?”

Castiel glanced up at Dean’s shocked expression with his now feline eyes, paw still rubbing at his neck. After a second or two, Castiel looked back down at the tatami mat below them as he shook his head and answered in a breathy voice, “I…I don’t know… I just came here last night, hungry and confused. The two people who live in this house – Aiya and Fujita – they were exceedingly generous to me and offered me some food. Everything was fine until…” Castiel paused before closing his eyes and shaking his head again, as if he was remembering something horrific. “There was this _terrible_ burning… _everywhere_ … My entire body was in absolute pain, and when it all stopped I was…”

Castiel didn’t finish. He didn’t need to for Dean to understand what happened next. Castiel had turned into a cat, terrifying the two residents as their guest had suddenly changed shape completely, making them try to come up with a reasonable explanation, which was that he had been a monster the whole time.

Dean nodded. “I see…”

“I was so confused, Dean,” Castiel said as he looked up at his best friend. “I was confused to _begin_ with! But then, when I think that this place couldn’t get any _more_ odd, I suddenly am transformed into a _cat_! A _cat_! And the next thing I know, the only people who had helped me out in this insane world are screaming and trying to _kill_ me!” Castiel seemed to be letting all of the built-up emotion and confusion he had been storing up out onto Dean, the only person he had left to trust. “I had to hide under a _dresser_ and a _tapestry_ because I thought they were still trying to get to me! I was… I was…!”

Suddenly, Castiel stopped. His eyes softened and his angry expression faded away as he looked back down at the floor. Dean had never seen Castiel act like this before, so emotional and dramatic. The hunter suddenly realized that, not only had Castiel been confused, he had also been _scared_. Scared about where he was and what had happened to him, thinking that he was all alone in some unknown world where no one could find him or help him. Scared about what would happen next, for he was just a puny, little cat stuck in a house full of screaming giants who were preparing to kill him, forcing him – a once powerful angel – to hide behind a dresser and hope for the best.

Dean nodded, suddenly feeling the urge to comfort his terrified friend, but how was he supposed to do that? He had no advice to give him or support to offer and he had no _idea_ what the next step was. Before, it had just been a simple matter of finding his lost brothers and possibly fighting something off or tending to their wounds. But what was he supposed to do when Castiel wasn’t even human anymore? Or at least, didn’t look like one. Castiel didn’t even know _how_ it happened to _begin_ with.

But, they would figure it out, somehow. Right now, Dean just needed to make sure Cas knew that, too.

So, Dean moved towards his terrified friend slowly and hesitantly with softened eyes and a gentle voice. His hand then moved down and rested on Castiel’s furry shoulder as he stared his friend in the eye and said, “Okay, Cas. Don’t worry, man. We’ll figure it out, okay? Like we always do. We’re gonna fix this, I promise.”

Dean smiled gently at Castiel as he stared reassuringly into his friend’s eyes. He could tell Castiel was trying to decide how sure Dean was of even his own words, but, right now, he didn’t really care. All he cared about at the moment was that he had found one of his brothers, even if he looked a little different. And, no matter how hard it seemed, Dean knew that he would fix his friend, find Sam, and go back home, together. No matter the consequences.


	6. The Assassin

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> After finally finding Castiel, even though he looks a tad bit different, Dean now must find a way out of Aiya and Fujita's home as they still believe Cas is a monster. Let's just say it doesn't go so well...

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Wow, this took a long time to upload! I had written this chapter a couple of months ago too! Summer was just so much more hectic than I thought it was going to be. The next couple chapters are still going to be kinda slow because I'm starting school again. :,( But don't worry, I'm always trying my very best to upload chapters as much as possible. I still am very interested in this story, so don't ever think I'm giving up on it, at least not quite yet. ;)  
> This chapter's on a little bit of the slow side, sorry, it just had to be done, though. They can't just teleport outta that house! XD But don't worry, the next chapter's going to be pretty interesting to make up for it. And I'm pretty positive it'll be up some time next week. So, keep your eyes open!  
> Thank you to all of you who are still as interested in this as I am and for sticking with it! I hope you enjoy this chapter! :D

Dean moved towards his terrified friend slowly and hesitantly with softened eyes and a gentle voice. His hand then moved down and rested on Castiel’s now furry, cat shoulder as he stared his friend in the eye and said, “Okay, Cas. Don’t worry, man. We’ll figure it out, okay? Like we always do. We’re gonna fix this, I promise.”

Castiel just stared at Dean for a while before he nodded once and said quietly, but not very convinced, “Thank you, Dean.”

Dean nodded as well and hesitantly took his hand away from Castiel’s shoulder. It was so strange to realize that the small, fluffy creature in front of him was his long-time companion, friend, and brother – Castiel. He tried not to show his feelings, though, for Cas’ sake.

Suddenly, there was a hesitant knock on the shōji doors as a quiet voice called out from behind them, “Dean- _san_? Is the bakeneko dead, yet? You’ve been in there for quite some time.”

Dean’s head whipped around to face the door as he recognized the voice as Fujita, the owner of the house they were now trapped in. The hunter suddenly remembered the reason he was in this room to begin with and how he had found Castiel: to kill this ‘bakeneko’, a monster cat who had been terrorizing the residents of the Japanese house he was in. To kill his transformed friend – Castiel.

Dean looked back at his changed companion to find him staring at the shōji with wide, terrified eyes. Even though the blue orbs were feline instead of human, they were still so distinctively _Cas’_. And it was still strange to see the fear that was tightly held on his poor face, for the angel rarely ever showed such raw emotions. Strange, but not surprising, as the man behind the door had been plotting to kill him the entire day, trapping him under a dresser.

But then again, it had been Dean who had been the assassin.

Not knowing anything to do but calm his friend down in order to make him not freak out, the young hunter decided to try and reassure Cas of his safety. Maybe they could avoid a disaster if the whole situation could be explained?

Dean’s hands reached out for Castiel as he said soothingly, “It’s okay, Cas, it’s oka-”

“Dean- _san_?” Fujita hesitantly called again from behind the door, “Who are you talking to?” After the old man was finished with his question, however, he didn’t wait for Dean’s answer before sliding the door open to find out for himself.

The old, Japanese farmer appeared in the doorway looking cautiously into the room, expecting to see Dean’s job done. Suddenly, though, upon seeing his assassin crouching in front of – what he thought to be – a dangerous monster, he screamed out, “Dean- _san_! Get back! It will curse you!”

Dean shot to his feet, putting his hands out in defense of Castiel as he screamed out, “Fujita, I can explain!”

Fujita seemed to think he didn’t need an explanation as he suddenly lunged forward and picked up the discarded dagger. “Get out of here, Dean- _san_!”

“Fujita, stop!” Dean shouted in desperation, putting himself between Castiel and the new attacker, as the old farmer shot forward, dagger in hand. “He’s not-”

The young hunter suddenly heard a feline hiss of shock and fear from behind him. Knowing it had come from his transformed friend, Dean’s head whipped back to see Castiel dart from the room in a little ebony streak.

“Cas! No! Stop!” Dean called to his terrified friend.

Seeing that his victim had left, Fujita whipped around to start chasing after the tiny cat. Dean shot forward and grabbed the old, Japanese man by the arms, holding him back from the doorway. From outside of the room, the two men could suddenly hear a woman’s screech of terror followed by a hiss of distress.

“Aiya!” Fujita called, upon hearing his daughter’s scream.

“Cas!” Dean shouted, upon hearing his friend’s hiss.

The hunter could hear tiny fumbles of footsteps in the room he had just been having tea with Fujita and Aiya in. He suddenly felt his pulse start to quicken as he could hear his best friend frantically rushing around the floor, desperately searching for an exit or at least a safe place to hide. His heart tore at the thought of how much terror was probably rushing through Castiel’s changed veins as he tried to run from screaming giants in a strange, enlarged room.

Fujita’s arms were moving desperately as he tried to escape from Dean’s grasp in order to protect his daughter from the apparent ‘monster’ outside the room they were in, and the young hunter was just as desperate to go out there and help his struggling friend. So, he quickly moved Fujita’s arm that held the dagger down and easily yanked the knife from the man’s hand.

With the dagger now in grasp, Dean ignored the Japanese farmer, pushing him to the ground and darting out of the room and down the hall. His race to Castiel’s shuffling feet seemed never-ending, in fact, the hallway seemed to be growing longer and longer. The young hunter assumed it was just his imagination, but sped up nevertheless.

Dean finally found himself in the room he had been served tea in and began glancing around, desperately trying to find his now very small friend. Suddenly, Aiya ran into view with a broom in hand as she squealed in terror. Right in front of her was Castiel’s tiny, feline form running desperately away from the crazed woman behind him.

“Cas!” Dean called, catching sight of his terrified companion.

Upon hearing his friend call his name, Castiel slowed down slightly in order to look over at him. This, however, gave Aiya the opportunity to whack the ebony cat on the side, making a cry of pain erupt from the transformed angel.

Dean felt a gasp of shock and horror escape from his mouth as he saw his best friend being pathetically slapped by a broom. Aiya brought down another hit from her weapon, releasing another cry of dreadful pain come from Castiel.

“Aiya, stop!” Dean shouted as he started to make his way towards her.

Thankfully, the young woman’s broom did freeze in its place above her head and her eyes darted over to the hunter. Unfortunately, Castiel took this opportunity to make a break for it, even though his friend was still there in the room protecting him. So, Dean could only watch as his transformed friend suddenly darted in a black streak from the room, out the door, and into the terrible storm that was commencing outside.

“Cas! Wait!” Dean called after his best friend. He ran to the door to look out into the storm. An arm went up to his face, shielding his eyes from the pouring rain, as he searched the rice fields for a dart of black. Right when Dean thought he wouldn’t see his friend, he suddenly saw a dot of a cat stumbling quickly along the rice fields.

Dean then turned around and grabbed his leather satchel he had gotten from Portobello’s hospitality. And, without a second thought, rushed out into the pouring rain in hopes of finding his terrified companion. He could hear Fujita shouting and calling from behind him to come back inside, that the thing he was chasing was a bakeneko – a monster.

Despite the nipping cold rain, Dean felt his skin turn hot with rage. He knew the two farmers didn’t know any better, but the very concept that they could see Castiel as a monster was atrocious. How could they not see how scared he was? That he had no idea what was going on either?

No matter, all Dean cared about now was finding Castiel, fixing him, and going back home with Sam. And the first step in getting that done was following his terrified friend, no matter where he took him.

“Cas!” he called. “Stop!”

The tiny cat far ahead of him did not slow down, however. If anything, the little creature sped up, afraid that the threat was still behind him. It pained Dean, really, to see his friend so terrified that he would just keep running and running into oblivion if he had to.

The hunter thought that he would be chasing after Castiel forever, until, suddenly, the tiny cat turned and ran into the rice fields. At first, Dean became afraid that he would never find the small feline in the tall weeds of rice, but he finally saw Castiel emerge and trot into a little, elevated hut.

The hunter came to a halt, panting heavily as he came up to the tiny hut. He assumed that his transformed friend had become tired out from all his frantic scramblings, so no wonder Castiel decided to take shelter in whatever place he could find, no matter how long the rest would be.

The hut was much more sheltered than some of the other structures that were spread out around the fields. It was covered in bamboo and seemed secure enough, at least enough to last the terrible storm this place was having.

Dean came up to the entrance of the small structure, panting hard from his run. He decided to go in calm and natural, even though he was Castiel’s friend, he could tell that his transformed companion was spooked at pretty much everything at the moment. That realization made Dean’s heart ache.

Castiel did not feel safe around anyone. Even Dean.

So, with a deep breath, Dean entered the little hut quietly. The hunter’s eyes darted around the building, searching for his changed friend. There wasn’t much to see in the small structure, just bamboo, baskets, and tools. So, it wasn’t hard to spot a little, wadded up ball of wet, black fur in the corner of the hut.

Dean gently made his way towards the tiny cat in the corner, who was shivering from the cold behind two baskets. Upon seeing the sight of the puny creature shivering in the corner and realizing it was his once proud and strong friend, Dean’s heart broke. What a terrible situation Castiel was in for him to be driven to this: a tiny ball of black fur, cold and alone in the corner, hoping and praying that no one would step through the door.

Dean crouched in front of the two baskets that were protecting Castiel from any threats and gently scooted them to the side. Suddenly, however, once Dean started to move the woven baskets, a loud, angry hiss erupted from behind them. A tiny, black paw then lashed out, claws extended, and slashed at his hand. Pain throbbed from the hunter’s skin, but he ignored it as he focused on being calm.

“It’s okay, it’s okay,” Dean said softly, mellow and gentle. “It’s just me, Cas, just me.”

With one of the baskets out of the way, Dean could now see his transformed friend’s face. Castiel’s blue eyes lit up in the moonlight as they glared at the hunter with fierce intensity. Castiel’s ears flattened atop his wet head as he opened his mouth and, showing crisp, white fangs, let a quiet yet ferocious hiss sound from behind them.

This action both confused and terrified Dean. Why was Cas hissing at him? Didn’t he recognize him as not a threat? Not knowing what else to do, Dean continued to speak calmly to his friend.

“Hey, hey, it’s okay, buddy,” Dean put up his hands in defense. “It’s just me.”

Castiel’s changed eyes flicked over to something in Dean’s hand before his deep voice suddenly came from his mouth, saying threateningly, “Put the dagger down.”

Dean’s gaze followed Cas’, finding that he was still holding the Japanese dagger he had taken from Fujita. Without saying a word, the hunter tossed the knife aside and looked back at his tiny friend. “’Kay, better?”

Castiel shifted on his front paws, eyes narrowed as his gaze flicked back up at the hunter. “How do I know you’re really Dean?”

Dean’s head shook in surprise. “What? What are you talking about, Cas!? Of course it’s me!”

Castiel’s eyes narrowed even more. “You tried to kill me.”

“All for good reason!” Dean defended, but his friend’s narrowed eyes made him realize that that was not a sound argument at all. “Okay, no, that came out wrong. Forget I said that. What I meant to say was… Uh…” He paused for a while, just staring into the cat’s hard gaze before a sigh came from his lips and he explained, “Fujita told me you were…a monster.”

Castiel’s suspicious expression changed into that of surprise. “What?”

The young hunter shrugged his another heavy sigh. “He said that you were something called a ‘bakeneko’. They were afraid you were going to…curse them.” Dean didn’t like telling his friend this. Castiel had already seemed to be feeling bad, but to tell him that people were now thinking he was some sort of monster?

Castiel’s eyes flicked down to stare at the ground. “I see…” he muttered. “I suppose that explains why they were so terrified of me…” Dean’s transformed friend was quiet for a while before he looked back up at him again to ask, “And they convinced you to…assassinate me?”

Dean’s eyebrows furrowed in guilt. “I…I thought that if I helped them, they would tell me where you and Sam were-”

Suddenly, Dean was interrupted by Castiel’s eyes widening and him shouting out, “Sam!” The changed feline then sprang up and ran to the door as he continued, “No! How could I have forgotten!?”

“Cas?” Dean turned around to see Castiel standing at the doorway, contemplating if he wanted to go back into the rain. “What’re you talking abou-”

His transformed friend looked back at him with worried eyes as he interrupted him again, “Sam! He’s still out there!”

Dean shifted in his crouching position with sudden peeked interest. “What? What do mean?”

Castiel black paws padded around on the wet soil below as he turned his head to face the doorway again. Dean could hear the cat’s breath start to thicken as he became more and more distressed with the fact that it was still raining out. His head whipped around, back and forth, back and forth, scanning the fields as if he would be able to see Sam from his spot by the doorway. After a minute or two of this, his gaze suddenly came back around to stare at the young hunter with concern as he exclaimed, voice ridden with worry, “I was with him! He was taken, Dean! I have to go find him! He might be in danger! He might be hurt! He was my responsibility!”

Castiel seemed as though he could go on forever with his terrified and worried rant, so Dean put his hands out and demanded, “Cas! Cas, listen to me, man! It’s gonna be okay! Just calm down!” Once Castiel had stopped talking, Dean continued softly, “Okay. You said you were with Sam?”

Castiel nodded. “Yes, he and I arrived in this place together. We woke up in the middle of an ocean before taking a boat to shore. When we finally arrived to the village at the port, Sam had suddenly become _extremely_ hungry. No one in the village would give us any food, though, so…we decided to make our way to these rice fields…. But, Sam had become much too weak to venture any further by the time we were halfway through the forest…” Castiel paused, eyes glancing to the ground as he continued. “I…I didn’t know what to do, so I took some fruit off of the branches of the trees around us… But that was when…the lights came….”

Dean shook his head slowly with a furrowed brow as he asked, “The lights?”

Castiel took a deep breath before looking up to stare at the wall blankly and answer, “I wasn’t able to get a good look at them, but…” Castiel shook his head. “When Sam was almost halfway done with the first fruit I had gathered for him, he just began to… _scream_ …” The transformed angel didn’t continue for a few seconds, as if the memory was too painful to keep telling, but he pursued on after regaining himself. “He started to grab his head in agony… He was in so much pain, Dean… I didn’t know what to do…” He paused before his tone became more serious. “Then, from behind the trees, I could see…these _lights_. I didn’t get a good look at them before…before I passed out and woke up at night on the edge of the forest. That was when I myself became incredibly hungry, just as Sam had, and found Fujita and Aiya and…” Castiel didn’t continue, but he didn’t need to for Dean to know what had happened next.

His friend’s story made Dean become even more worried for his lost, little brother. He found his eyes glancing up to the doorway as he knew that somewhere out there his brother was lost, hungry, and hurt. They _had_ to find him. They _would_ find him.

Dean looked back down at Castiel, staring into his transformed eyes. A feeling of dread – and even a little bit of nausea – filled the hunter’s gut as he suddenly realized that what had happened to Cas could’ve happened to Sam. He could be stuck with two transformed brothers with no way of helping them.

No, he couldn’t think of that. He had to stay positive. Not only for himself, but for Castiel and Sam. They would find Sam and they would fix Cas.

For right now, though, no matter how much the both of them desperately wanted to go find Sam, they needed to wait for the storm to pass and the sun to rise. They couldn’t find Sam if they were tired and straining their eyes through the dark.

“Okay, Cas. We’ll go find Sam, but let’s wait ‘till morning, okay?” Dean suggested.

Castiel’s head suddenly shook ferociously. “No, Dean! I can’t sit idly by while Sam could be hurt and alone somewhere! I was supposed to look after him, make sure he didn’t get hurt! He needs-!”

“Cas!” Dean shouted, making Castiel’s loud ramblings be silenced. “I don’t like it either, man, but we can’t find Sam in a rainstorm!”

“But, Sam could-!”

“We’ll find him, Cas!” Dean shouted. “I won’t let some light sons-a-bitches get to my little brother, but that also means being smart about it!” The hunter then chuckled. “Sam wouldn’t go out in that storm, now would he?” Castiel didn’t respond as he looked back at the doorway. Dean then put his back against on wall of the hut as he said softly, “Now, I’m going to get my four hours. Wake me the moment the storm stops, okay?”

Castiel didn’t say anything as Dean laid down on the floor of the hut. And, as the young hunter drifted into sleep, despite the ever-present worry of Sam’s well-being in his mind, the last image he saw before blackness surrounded his vison was Castiel’s feline form sitting in front of the doorway, just watching the raindrops hit the ground.


	7. The Edge of Forest

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Sam is still somewhere in the forest, plagued by the three, confused wisps who are still insistent on him being the reincarnation of their long lost master, Cernunnos. Now, he must come up with a clever way to get rid of them. As he soon realizes, however, getting back to Dean and Castiel won't be as easy as he first suspects.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry this chapter is so short, I'll have the next TWO chapters out this week, though. Hopefully. XD This chapter was just so necessary and important for the story, even though it's pretty short. I hope you guys are enjoying this! Don't be afraid to leave comments after reading! It always inspires me to keep going! :)  
> Thank you, as always! I hope you like this chapter! XD

Sam had seen a bunch of freaky stuff in his life as a hunter. But everything he had been seeing today might just possibly be the cherry on top of the ‘freaky-shit sundae’.

To start it off, was the very fact that, as Sam was beginning to realize, this place he was in was an entirely different _world_. Of course, he supposed he should’ve realized that sooner, but better late than never, right?

Then, there were the living skeletons and dwarves. Skeletons were usually a tell-tale sign that the place you are in is most likely the Twilight Zone, but one of the things about the Twilight Zone is that you have no idea you’re in it before it’s too late. Dwarves were great in the Hobbit, but Sam preferred them when they remained on the pages of Tolkien.

And last but not least, was the whole situation Sam was in at the moment: Light-bastards. That was the name the young hunter had put for the stupid, little wisps following him around. They would’ve been adorable if they didn’t keep calling him ‘Cernunnos’, and that would’ve been just plain _annoying_ if it hadn’t been for the fact that there were giant stag antlers growing out of his goddamn head. And how did they get there, one might ask?

Light-bastards.

Sam had named the three dweebs that followed him around One, Two, and Three. Clever, right? One had no arms and legs, Two had arms, and Three had both arms and legs. Truthfully, Sam hated that he gave them names to begin with. He had heard that if you name something it makes you more attached to it, but he just wanted to get away from them. Pronto.

That, however, wasn’t going to happen any time soon.

_Where are you going, Cernunnos?_ One asked.

“Away!” Sam replied in an irritated voice. He walked through the dense forest, moss rubbing against his feet as he stormed past the giant trees. Branches filtered golden sunlight down on the forest floor, warming Sam’s face as he walked.

_But where to, Cernunnos? You have nowhere to go._ Three questioned.

“I don’t care, as long as I’m away from you three, I’m fine!” Sam snapped.

Two then lunged out and grabbed onto Sam’s arm, making him turn around to face the tiny wisp. Once he was glaring down at her, the hunter saw the little wisp’s sad face. _Please don’t go, Cernunnos! We just brought you back!_

“You didn’t bring ‘Cernunnos’ back! You just cursed _me_!” Sam snapped again.

One shook her bobble-head. _No, Cernunnos. I know it must feel that way at the moment, but in time, you will come to realize that you belong with_ us _!_

“No! I don’t belong with you! I belong with my brother!” He whipped back around and began on his way again as he continued, “Now, if you’d excuse me, I need to go find my way back to him!”

_No, Cernunnos! It’s a trick that the Shadows cast on you! An illusion!_ Two called. _You have no brother to return to!_

Sam stopped dead in his tracks. How dare they say such a thing? He had no brother to return to? That Dean was just an illusion?

Without responding, however, Sam pushed forward, determined to get to the edge of this never-ending maze of trees.

_Cernunnos, wait!_ Three called behind him, but he kept walking.

_We’ll do anything, Cernunnos!_ Two pleaded, but still Sam did not stop.

_Just ask and we’ll do!_ One begged.

Sam suddenly froze in place, as One and Two’s words repeated themselves in his head. Then, he whipped back around to them with a raised eyebrow. His eyes flicked back and forth between the three girls of light.

“Anything?” Sam asked.

The three wisps nodded ferociously.

Sam turned to face them fully. He couldn’t ask them to bring him to Dean or even Cas, they would never go through with it, but they seemed so desperate for orders and acceptance that tricking them would be one of the easiest things he could do at the moment.

“Alright, I have something I want,” Sam said as he nodded his head slowly.

_Yes, yes! We’ll do it!_ Three declared with a shake of her little feet.

_Anything!_ Two cheered with a wave of her tiny hands.

_With pleasure!_ One exclaimed with a nod of her giant head.

Sam nodded before telling them his request. “Take me to the edge of the forest.”

The three wisps’ smiling faces dropped, as if that wasn’t the request they were expecting.

_To the…edge of the forest?_ Three repeated.

“Yeah,” Sam nodded.

Two’s little hands went up to her mouth before shaking her head slowly as she muttered, _I don’t know…_

One shook her giant head as well as she whispered, _That doesn’t sound safe…_

Sam’s eyebrows furrowed in confusion, and slight worry as he wondered if his idea wasn’t going to work. “Why doesn’t it sound safe?”

_Because, this forest is the only area of safety in Nysa*._ Three explained.

“Nysa?” Sam repeated.

One nodded as she said, _Yes, it’s the island we live on! It used to be full of happiness and peace where forgotten creatures from other religions, cultures, folk tales, concepts, and ideas could stay without worry of harm. But…ever since a few years ago, Nysa has been_ _riddled with danger and darkness. Ever since…_ they _came. The center of this forest is the only area where protection is guaranteed now. Everywhere else is known as the ‘Black Place’._

“Who’s ‘they’?”

One looked down at the grass covering the forest floor, as if she was afraid to answer, so Two murmured in a quiet and hesitant voice, _The Shadows…!_

Sam looked back and forth between the three wisps. Their faces wore heavy frowns and the fantastic, yellow light that usually surrounded them had become quite dull. In some way, he was kind of scared of these ‘Shadows’ the wisps seemed so afraid of, but then again, he suddenly became quite worried for Cas, who was still out there somewhere in a world full of Shadows. Sam didn’t want to meet these ‘Shadows’ but he knew he had to go find Cas in order to save him from them. Besides, he had been fighting off things that would make normal people run and hide under their beds for his entire life.

How scary could these ‘Shadows’ be?

“I’m not afraid,” Sam stated firmly before repeating his request. “Take me to the edge of the forest.”

_But it’s not safe, Cernunnos!_ Three exclaimed as her head and little hands shook violently at Sam. _There’s no telling of what could-_

“Three,” Sam interrupted her, making the little wisp stop as she was surprised he had called her something. He then said again, much more firm than before, “I am not afraid.”

The three wisps stared into Sam’s eyes, trying to identify any fear whatsoever, but years of being a hunter had made the young man extremely good at hiding his emotions, so they found neither faltering nor hesitance. After all, Sam wasn’t hesitant in finding Cas and getting back to Dean who was who knows where, so there wasn’t much to lie about in the first place.

So, the three little wisps looked at one another before back at Sam. One then nodded her giant head as she muttered, _Okay, Cernunnos! We’ll take you to the edge of the forest!_

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> *Nysa: The mountainous district of Nysa is said to have been where rain nymphs rose the god Dionysus as an infant, which is where the god gets his name. In Ancient Greek, it means 'The God of Nysa', or 'The Zeus of Nysa'. Some historians believe Nysa would've been somewhere in India, Arabia, Ethiopia, Egypt, or even somewhere in what is now the Red Sea.


	8. The Teddy Bear Picnic

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> After finally escaping from Aiya and Fugita, Dean and Castiel find themselves in a strange and dark forest. As if out of nowhere, Dean finds that his hunger has all of a sudden become almost unbearable, and is desperate for food. Suddenly, from deep within the woods, an eerie song arises from a sunny clearing. Music and singing comes up from nowhere and a small group of mysterious creatures sit in a circle, enjoying their own unusual picnic.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I sincerely apologize for this chapter taking so long! As you can see, it turned out WAY longer than I had previously planned, and I also had to practically rewrite the entire thing at one point. I can't promise the next chapter will come sooner, as school is really hectic, but I will say that I'm definitely trying as hard as I can.  
> I hope you all enjoy this chapter, despite its length! I think it's a good story for Halloween and I hope you agree.  
> Thank you and happy Halloween!

Dean’s eyes stung in the brightness of the sun. His lips pulled back in a grimace as he absorbed the rays of warmth into his skin. He could hear the swaying of grass and wind outside as the wooden planks of the hut creaked gently. His pajamas that had become dirty and worn from his adventures the previous day went unnoticed to him as everything seemed right with the world. It was only when he registered fully where he was and suddenly realized that there was something soft laying pressed up against his side did Dean’s eyes shoot open.

His green eyes wandered along the woven reeds of grass that made up the hut’s roof. The wooden planks creaked again, making Dean’s eyes dart over to the window filtering in warm light. He laid there for a while, just staring at the rickety window as he let the peace waft over him.

That was when his attention went down to focus on a ball of black fur curled up against his side and in the crook of his arm. A black cat. The cat’s tiny paws were covering its eyes as it slept soundly with a small and content smile on its face.

Dean’s eyebrows furrowed. He was allergic to cats, why was this one able to sleep calmly next to him, then?

Suddenly, his memory snapped back to him like a boomerang. The man’s eyebrows furrowed even more as he realized that the tiny creature snuggled into the crook of his arm was indeed his ever faithful companion and brother, Castiel.

Dean found himself quickly shuffling into a sitting position as he muttered, “What the hell?”

At the sudden movement, Castiel’s tiny head shot up and looked around sleepily. Then, his feline eyes landed on himself before quickly looking crestfallen, as if he had been hoping that the previous days had just been a long, terrible dream.

Dean sat up a little bit more, making Castiel sit up as well. Both their eyes then landed on each other before quickly looking away. The two friends were then left in an awkward silence before Dean coughed and said, “So.”

“Yes.”

Suddenly, as if out of nowhere, a giant growl erupted from Dean’s stomach and he was forced to grasp his abdomen in pain. The awkwardness of waking up to find that he had just been snuggling next to his best friend quickly vanished as undying pain came from his stomach. He didn’t know why he hadn’t noticed it before, but Dean didn’t really care about the logic of his sudden predicament as he was soon bound completely by the great force of persistent hunger.

Castiel shot to his feet as he exclaimed with a voice full of worry, “Dean?” The hunter could only answer his friend with a groan of pain, however, as he began to fold into himself. “Dean, what’s wrong? What’s happening?”

“Cas…” Dean groaned. “I’m so hungry…! I wouldn’t have even thought it was _possible_ to be this hungry…!”

Castiel’s eyebrows furrowed in concern as he then started to shake his head, “No, this is when…the uncalled for circumstances arose…”

“Yeah,” Dean nodded as his eyes pinched together in immense pain. “This is _definitely_ uncalled for…!”

“Dean,” Castiel ignored his friend as he continued solemnly, “I don’t think it would be wise to eat anything. No matter _how_ hungry you become.”

The hunter then forced his head up to look at the cat in front of him. “Are you serious!? Cas, if I don’t eat something now, I’m gonna _die_!”

Suddenly, a voice from outside called, “They’re in here!” Shuffling of feet then alerted the two friends that people were surrounding the hut that they were in.

Dean and Castiel met terrified eyes as their minds raced with ideas of how to get out. Fujita and Aiya had probably told their neighbors about their mishap with the ‘bakeneko’ and the man who protected the ‘monster’. And if they’re guesses were correct, that was probably them knocking on the door outside.

Without a single word, however, the two suddenly shot up from their spots and, without even thinking of how logical their plan was, burst out through the hut door. Dean fumbled with his satchel as he stuffed Fujita’s dagger inside. They shot through the rice fields at light-speed and headed straight for the nearest part of the forest they could find. Luckily, the hut was coincidently right next to the eerie-looking trees. 

Once the sun touched their faces and they felt the mud squish through their toes, Dean and Castiel could hear shouts and screams of the angry rice farmers. Japanese gibberish traveled through the air and was passed from one farmer to the next. Even though Dean had no idea what the men behind him were shouting, for some reason, that alone scared him. It was just screams and yells in their wake, no words, nothing. Just high-pitched, terrified shouts.

It seemed to take forever, but Dean and Castiel suddenly found their feet landing on soft grass instead of mud, and the sun, which had just been blinding them, was suddenly blocked out by the blue leaves above. The yelps of the Japanese farmers were muted by their distance and the shuffling of the men’s feet could no longer be heard. Even though they seemed to be in the clear, however, the two friends didn’t stop running for a second. And they kept at their pace until their legs could bear it no longer and the air refused to enter their lungs.

For a second, Dean wondered how they had so easily escaped the rice farmers, but once he stopped running, he was reminded of the terrible hunger that he was experiencing. The hunter stopped and limped to the trunk of a nearby tree, collapsing to the ground beside it as the pain of his need for food resurfaced.

Castiel eyed his friend with worry before he asked in a breathy voice, “How…How are you?”

Dean’s head rested on the bark of the tree, face riddled with pain as he said sarcastically, “Awesome…”

Castiel’s eyebrows furrowed in sympathy as if he wished that there was something he could do. He opened his mouth to say something, but was interrupted suddenly as, through the trees, echoed quite an eerie sound.

“ _Cu_ -ckoo! _Cu_ -ckoo!”

Dean’s pained eyes opened a little as he looked around the forest. The noise did not echo from a singular place as it rang across the trees and traveled through the air.

“What the hell?” Dean muttered, voice still weak and riddled with pain.

“What is—” Castiel began, but was suddenly interrupted by a giant, black and gray bird flapping its wings violently in front of his face. At this frightening and panicking display of feathers and color, a very feline hiss erupted from behind the small cat’s fangs, his ebony fur stood on end, and his whole back rose as he tried to stand as tall as he possibly could. Dean called out his friend’s name in shock as he could only watch the bird attack Castiel’s furry body.

Finally, after a few seconds, the giant bird settled down and stood in front of the two companions. When Dean and Castiel looked up to meet gazes with the crazed bird, however, they were met with a very strange sight. The bird in front of them was no ordinary bird, that was for sure. It would’ve looked like a regular cuckoo bird if it wasn’t for its size, and of course for the fact that it was dressed head-to-toe in a prestigious Victorian suit. A burgundy tailcoat wrapped around its torso and hung along its tail, a green vest was buttoned up on its chest, and a white cravat puffed itself out of his shirt. The only thing he was missing were pants.

“The hell?” Dean whispered as he and Castiel stared in shock at the strange bird.

The bird suddenly rose a wing up to his head, and, as if like a hand, smoothed out the wild fringe of feather that sprung up atop his head. His eyes were a bright, chaotic shade of yellow which defined his shockingly deep, thoughtless, black pupils.

“I am equally as confused,” Castiel stated after witnessing this.

Suddenly, as if to make the situation even more odd, the crazed-looking bird opened its mouth and spoke in one of the fastest voices Dean had ever heard. “I truly am sorry for frightening you, little kitty-cat.”

Castiel furrowed his brow before he grunted out, “I’m not a ‘kitty-cat’.”

“Cas,” Dean started, voice still full of pain, “Don’t ever say ‘kitty-cat’.”

The cuckoo bird ignored them in order to continue speaking. “But I couldn’t help but notice that your friend here,” The bird motioned towards Dean with his wing. “Is running out of _tiiiime_!”

The hunter tried to ignored the strange turn in tone with the mention of ‘time’, as he asked, “What d’you mean?”

“Yes, we’re all running out of _tiiiime_ ,” The cuckoo bird continued, not bothering to hear or answer Dean’s question. “And the worst part is that we have no way of knowing how much _tiiiime_ we have left!”

Dean and Castiel looked at each other with confused glances. What was he talking about? _Why_ was he talking about this? And what did he mean by Dean was ‘running out of time?’

“All the clocks are _different_ , you know!” The bird exclaimed again. “And trust me, I’d know!” Suddenly, the cuckoo bird lifted up both sides of his tailcoat to show the two friends about fifty old stop watches hanging from his coat. They swung as he showed them to the two companions, each one of them a different shape and color, as well as a different time. The disorderly noise that they all created as every clock seemed to be ticking on a different minute, was almost louder than the cuckoo bird’s own words. “Sixty-three! Sixty-three clocks all strapped to my person! Sixty-three! And all their speeds and times are different! Sixty-two broken clocks strapped to my person! And only one of them is correct! I just can’t tell which one! But they’re all counting down, you know!”

“To what?” Dean asked, even though he knew he wouldn’t like an answer.

“What?” the bird asked.

“What are they counting down to?” Dean rephrased, voice slightly annoyed.

The cuckoo bird shook his tailcoat to stress his answer as he answered, “The time of my death! One of these clocks tells me when my time’s up, you know! And I have no idea which one! It’s driving me _cu_ -ckoo! _Cu_ -ckoo! _Cu_ -ckoo! Some say fifty _years_ , some say fifty _days_ , some say fifty _seconds_! Some say ten _years_ , some say ten _days_ , some ten _seconds_! Some say two _years_ , some say two _days_ , some say two _seconds_! How am I supposed to _know_ which one it _is_!? What if it never comes at _all_! How am I supposed to _know_!? How can I live like _this_ , then!? It’s driving my _cu_ -ckoo! _Cu_ -ckoo! _Cu-_ ckoo! I’m already _cu_ -ckoo! _Cu_ -ckoooooo!” Suddenly, after the strange bird’s, last, odd bird call, he flew up into the trees and left Dean and Castiel alone.

The two companions sat in their places for a few seconds, in shock of the quick – and quite _random_ – visit from the cuckoo bird. The silence was brought to a stop, however, as Dean hoisted himself up from his seat on the ground before beginning to walk farther into the forest. Castiel stepped back a few paces when the hunter trudged right up next to him, seemingly being quite overwhelmed by how gigantic his long-time companion was.

“Dean?” Castiel asked as he watched his friend keep walking. “Where are you going?”

“To find something to eat,” Dean answered in his usual gruff voice.

“Find something to—No!” The transformed angel ran to catch up with his friend, so that they were walking side-by-side. Castiel looked up at the hunter with an irritated expression. “Don’t you remember what I told you!? It wouldn’t be wise to eat anything in this world!”

“Yeah, well, it wouldn’t be wise to _not_ eat anything either, Cas!” Dean shot back.

“I disagree!” Castiel retorted, his gaze moving to the forest in front of them.

“Yeah? And why’s that!?”

“Because I think this island is doing something to us!” Castiel stopped, making Dean pause a few steps ahead. The hunter looked back down at his friend, their gazes locking with a fierce and irritated intensity. “And I think it would be _unwise_ to follow along with… _whatever_ this island is forcing us to do.”

“Like what?” Dean asked incredulously. “What could an _island_ possibly be forcing us to do?”

Castiel looked around. “I don’t know. I just think that it’s…a bit _odd_ that once Sam became as hungry as you are and then ate, his head started to hurt and he was taken by floating lights. And that when _I_ became as hungry as you are and then ate, I became a _cat_!” The angel paused. He was waiting for him to put the pieces together.

Well, he wasn’t in the mood for thinking today, however, so the hunter moved his head forward and put one hand out as he asked, “Your point being?”

Castiel looked at the ground exasperatedly. “I think that this island is forcing us to eat from this world because the food…transforms people into… _things_ , I don’t exactly know what. Such as my becoming a cat, I believe that to be the work of the food I ate from Aiya and Fujita.”

“Okay, then what about Aiya and Fujita? Why didn’t they transform when they ate?” Dean questioned.

“Maybe it only works if one is a visitor to this land,” the angel guessed.

Dean shook his head with closed eyes. “That doesn’t make any sense, Cas. Even if that _is_ true, there’s no reason for any of that. Why would a whole island want to transform us into some freaky animal?”

“Then maybe it’s not the island itself, maybe it’s someone _on_ the island,” the changed angel reasoned with his gaze centered onto the ground below. He kept speaking, but Dean stopped listening to his friend as he suddenly heard something in the distance: a quiet, soft noise that floated up from the trees. His head turned away from Castiel as he began to search his surroundings with wide and confused eyes.

“That still doesn’t explain why, though.” The changed angel kept talking, clearly not hearing the strange noise. If Dean wasn’t so focused on the sound, he might have thought it was strange that a cat couldn’t hear such an obvious disturbance from the trees. “Maybe it’s a control-mechanism. He – or she – is waiting for us to come find them, as we would obviously want to be reverted back to our original forms. Of course, it’s a perfect tactic…we would have to—”

“Cas…!” Dean whispered in a sharp tone as he put up a hand, signaling for him to be quiet. His head whipped around to scan around the trees of the forest. “Do you hear that?”

Castiel finally looked around as well as his ears turned in every other direction. Now having silenced the feline, Dean was finally able hone in on what the sound was and where it was coming from. It was faint. It was emitting from behind the trees to their left. The two faced the sound before they finally could make out what it was: singing. It was quiet and high-pitched, as if it were the voices of children.

Dean could hear Castiel shifting on his two front paws before he whispered to him, “What…What is that?”

“I don’t know,” Dean muttered, before beginning to walk towards the song. He needed to find out what it was. It was a raging desire that throbbed violently in his chest. He crouched slightly to the ground, an arm still wrapped around his aching abdomen, and eyes alert for anything that might jump out at them.

“Dean!” He could hear Castiel call in a hushed voice from behind him. The sound of his friend’s worried tone did not stop him, however, as he kept pushing his way through the blue leaves of the forest. Dean heard his changed friend call out to him again, still unmoving from his spot. The hunter pressed on, thorns of bushes cutting at his skin, Castiel’s distant voice still calling for him.

Finally, Dean arrived at a clearing that was separated from him by a line of polished bushes that held a normal color of beautiful green. In fact, the trees that surrounded them looked completely normal, even the ones from behind him. At this point, the singing was quite clear now, and he could make out the child-like voices that were coming from behind the bushes. Dean crouched down from in front of the neat plants as he tried his best to see through the tiny leaves. He focused with his ears in order to listen closer to the strange voices coming from behind the wall of foliage. They were high-pitched and every word that was sang lacked the letter ‘r’ as though it was a band of small, lost children humming this eerie tune. The voices might have even been seen as adorable, but Dean couldn’t help but find them to be quite…spooky. A deep bellowing of a mighty trombone could be heard alongside the high-pitched choir, setting up a hefty, low beat behind their cheerful singing. Truthfully, as the hunter listened to the song in the distance, he could feel a great cold drift over him as every hair on his body began to stand on end.

Suddenly, right when Dean was about to look over the bushes, he could feel Castiel pad up next to him, as he had finally caught up. His changed friend panted, trying to catch his breath from running to him, before taking two more careful steps toward the hunter and asked, in a quiet whisper, “Dean? What are you—?”

Castiel was suddenly silenced by Dean’s giant hands clutching onto him and his open mouth. The transformed angel released a quick hiss of shock and fear as Dean hoisted him into his lap. The hunter let out a small shush right next to the angel’s ear before whispering in a voice so small that even he could barely hear it, “Cas, shh, I’m sorry, I know this is weird, but you have to be quiet. I’m going to look over the bush, and I’m going to lift you up to see too. Okay?”

Castiel then, after a few seconds of no motion except for his heavy breathing, nodded quickly before Dean lifted both himself and his small friend up to look at something above the bushes. The sight that they were met with made them gasp quickly, Castiel’s mouth now freed from Dean’s mammoth palm. Before them, the two friends could see a red-and-white checkered blanket stretched out in a small clearing that harbored assorted treats and snacks along with aromatic, herbal tea. What truly took them by surprise were the strange creatures singing around the set-up picnic: teddy bears.

Five stuffed animals were seated around the back of the picnic. They were covered in black, velvet fur and each wore a thin, little, red bowtie around their necks. All were identical in size and dress, except for one bear in the middle, who wore an impressive top hat. The voices that surfaced from their mouths were childlike and cute, but nothing about the scene was adorable in any way. Especially as Dean listened closer to the song that they sung to the music around them, the deep, powerful bellowing of some invisible trombone, that seemed to come from nowhere with raised arms and happy grins*.

_See us gaily gad about_

_We love to play and shout_

_We never have any caaaares!_

At the long, stretched-out note, the teddy bears rose their heads and moved their arms about quickly, as if making a point at how much they didn’t have any cares.

_At six o’clock our mommies and daddies will take us home to bed_

_Because we’re tired little teddy beeaars!_

The bears then stopped their singing to dance to the music that floated around their heads from some mysterious and unknown place. They looked to their sides to smile at one another as they swung their arms from side to side in the air. It didn’t last long, though, for, as quick as they had stopped, the teddy bears began to sing again, this time, however, with a slightly darker tone.

_If you go down in the woods today, you better not go alone!_

_It’s lovely down in the woods today, but safer to stay at home!_

_For every bear that ever there was will gather here for certain_

_Because today’s the day that teddy bears have our piiicnic!_

At the last line, the music stopped and the teddy bears suddenly let out a collective “Yaaay!” as they shook their arms in the air one last time before chuckling and clapping their stuffed paws, which made almost no sound at all. They looked at one another as they clapped and clapped and clapped, as if congratulating each other on a such a good song.

“This is like something straight outta Alice in Wonderland,” Dean remarked in Castiel’s ear, voice ever silent.

“Yes…this is rather…strange,” Castiel agreed quietly, the hunter not failing to notice his friend’s slightly spooked tone. That wasn’t the angel Dean was used to at all. Maybe the curse was affecting his courage. “Maybe we should lea—”

Before Castiel could finish his sentence, however, the teddy bear with the top hat looked straight at them with an ever-present smile, causing chills to go down both friends’ spines. At first, they thought they were done for. The grin plastered on the bear’s face did not seem tender or cute at all, it seemed to be looking right into the two’s souls. Their thoughts were paused, however, as the stuffed animal rose its arm up all of a sudden and motioned for them to come out of their hiding place as it exclaimed in a cheery, adult voice that held a strangely fake British accent, “Oh, there you are! We’ve been waiting for you! Come, come! We made crumpets and tea!”

Dean looked behind him, making sure there wasn’t anyone else that he could be talking to. He seemed to be wrong, though, as the bear called again, “No, _you_ , silly! Come on out, no reason to be scared! We made crumpets and tea!”

It seemed insane to go over there to where the creepy stuffed animals sat. No one in their right mind would _ever_ accept the bear’s invitation. But Dean didn’t seem to be in his right mind as his eyes kept staring greedily at the assorted goodies that were stretched out across the picnic blanket. His insistent hunger hadn’t decreased whatsoever, in fact, it seemed to have only gotten worse as he was starting to shake and feel quite light-headed. He _needed_ to eat.

Castiel looked back at Dean only to notice his mouth was watering as he eyed the assorted treats and goodies. The angel’s eyes widened in shock as he muttered, “No, Dean, don’t do it! It’s a trap!”

Dean couldn’t bring himself to listen, however, as he felt himself stand to his feet. “Aw, it can’t be that bad, Cas. They’re just teddy bears, what harm could they do?” He then looked down at his furry friend in his arms with a lopsided smile. “Besides, they made crumpets…and tea.”

Castiel’s eyes widened more as he noticed Dean’s unsure smile. He seemed to suddenly realize the hunter’s emotions: he didn’t want to, but he had to. “No, Dean! You can’t! Something’s going to—!” He wasn’t able to finish, however, as the angel found the two of them sitting down on the picnic blanket across from the teddy bears.

At this, the stuffed animals began clapping again as they exclaimed in excited voices, “Yaaay! Visitors!”

Castiel looked over at the bears with fear. Dean knew why. He was terrified that he had gotten this close to the stuffed animals too. But he _had_ to eat. He wasn’t in his right mind. He was going crazy with hunger. They were going to trick him and possibly turn him into a cat as well, if Castiel’s theory was correct. But he couldn’t bring his cares to determine his actions.

“We’re so happy that you could make it, old chaps!” the bear in the top hat said as he quickly clapped again before reaching over and grabbing a bite-sized tart. Without wasting any time, the stuffed animal bit into the treat and began to chew, despite not being able to crush up any part of the tart for his lack of teeth. He swallowed nothing however, as it all just crumbled out of his mouth and onto his lap. It was probably the most logical thing Castiel and Dean had seen all day. “We were afraid you’d never show!”

The two friends ignored the bear as Castiel turned his head around and whispered to Dean, “Dean, _don’t_ eat anything.”

The hunter closed his eyes and muttered with gritted teeth and a desperate voice, “I know, I know, I know.” He was trying so hard not to eat anything, but it was just too difficult! Why were they still sitting here? Why hadn’t they gotten up yet? He was telling his body to get up, but no matter how many times he demanded it to, it wouldn’t listen.

“Then let’s leave!” Castiel whispered with an intense, pleading expression.

Dean looked down at his friend with a desperate face. “I do…and don’t want to, Cas.”

Castiel let out a sigh before slinking off the hunter’s lap. As he did, the teddy bear with the top hat asked, “Do you want to leave? Already?”

“No!” Dean suddenly shouted, much louder than he wanted as he continued quieter than he had started. “No, we, uh…no.” He paused with a scrunched up face. Stupid! Why did he say that?! He _did_ want to leave! _Castiel_ wanted to leave! If the circumstances were different and Dean’s most trusted companion and clearly the only sane one in this situation wasn’t a seven to eight-pound cat, they would’ve been out of there by now! Castiel would’ve dragged him away from the bears in no time, they would’ve been _yards_ away, running as far away as possible. But they weren’t. Castiel was about a foot tall, he had no apposable thumbs, and Dean was stuck in the terrifying situation of about to be possibly cursed by five teddy bears.

Dean sighed before opening his eyes again and, heading straight into the deadly path he was taking, asked, “So, who are you?”

“Ah!” the teddy bear exclaimed. “Where are my manners? I am Mr. Teddington, duke of Teddy, the finest duchy in the land!” He looked over to his neighboring bears on his left before introducing each, “On the far left is Mr. Tedding, next to him is Mr. Tedd.” He then turned over and gestured to his neighbor on the right. “This is Mr. Teddy, and next to him, on the far right, is Kevin!”

At being introduced, Kevin lifted up a paw as he leaned to the side and said with a deep voice, “Sup.”

“He is quite _unruly_ , if you know what I mean,” Mr. Teddington said with a waggle of his eyebrow.

Dean’s mouth turned into a shocked grimace while Castiel only tilted his head and said, “No, I don’t.”

“Cas,” Dean quickly interrupted, not wanting to hear what that could possibly mean.

“He always brings soda instead of tea to our picnics!” Mr. Teddington exclaimed with out-stretched arms.

“Oh.” He was expecting something much more…scandalous than that.

“Yes, and Kevin also made this _wonderful_ marmalade! You _must_ try it!” Mr. Tedding, whose voice was surprisingly childlike in comparison to Mr. Teddington and Kevin’s tone, put in as he leaned in and grabbed a jar of orange marmalade along with a pre-cut crumpet. “He made it just for you!”

Dean straightened up in perked interest at the idea of eating something, especially something sweet. His mouth began to water as he thought of the delicious marmalade running down his throat. The satisfaction it would bring him to have some sort of substance in his system. The pleasant aftertaste that would be left to remind him of his recent fulfillment.

His thoughts were suddenly interrupted, however, when Dean heard Castiel say wearily, “Oh, no, we’re fine,” with a shake of his head. The hunter deflated a little bit at the cat’s words.

“Oh, really?” Mr. Tedd exclaimed. “It’s simply to _die_ for, though!”

“Yes, that’s what I’m afraid of,” Castiel retorted with a quick nod of his head.

“Don’t worry, old chap!” Mr. Teddington said. “It won’t do anything _bad_ to you! Kevin made it! And everyone knows Kevin’s just a barrel of laughs, aren’t you, Kevin?”

“Sup,” Kevin only said, though he gave one solemn nod as he rose a paw again.

“See? Nothing wrong with Kevin!”

“And if it makes you feel any better, we all had some of it!” Mr. Teddy joined in.

At this point, Mr. Tedding had already finished lathering a good amount of orange marmalade on the crumpet and was holding it out for Dean to take. The hunter stared at it with wide, desperate eyes. He _needed_ it. He _had_ to have it. He could quite possibly die without it. He could feel Castiel’s gaze staring him down. He could practically hear his friend’s words. They haunted him.

_Don’t eat the crumpet. You’ll regret it. You know it._

_Don’t eat the crumpet. You’ll regret it. You know it._

_Don’t eat the crumpet. You’ll regret it. You know it._

Dean’s arm rose before hesitantly taking the snack from the bear’s paw. He could hear the transformed angel below him gasp before whispering, “Dean, don’t eat that! Something’s going to happen, I can feel it! It’s a bad idea!” The two watched the crumpet in Dean’s shivering hands. He was becoming weak. Both of them knew that they were both equally right. Dean knew it was a bad idea to eat something, that he might transform just as Cas had. And Castiel knew that Dean did _need_ to eat something, and _fast_ , or else he might just collapse at one point. The only question was, what was more important?

Dean looked down at his friend, staring into his transformed eyes. His gaze then flicked back to the pastry in his hand, noticing how much he was shaking, how weak he was becoming. The consequences didn’t matter, the hunter decided. He had to eat. He couldn’t die. Not here, not now. His eyebrows furrowed before glancing back at Castiel and whispering, “I’m sorry, Cas.”

And, with one, big, desperate bite, Dean tore into the crumpet with the orange marmalade on the top. Castiel gasped and shot up from where he sat. He ran over and rested his front paws on Dean’s crossed leg. “Dean!” His eyes widened in fear. It was too late now, even if he was to spit it out, there would still be the tiniest bit lingering in his mouth. Enough to transform him, even in the smallest way.

The hunter ripped his bite from the rest of the pastry and swallowed it in one mighty gulp. Castiel lifted up a paw and rested it on the arm that Dean held the crumpet in. His gaze kept going back and forth between the treat and his friend. The hunter could feel the treat slide down his throat. It landed in his stomach. The acids in his intestines began rapidly dissolving it. The nutrients flowed through his body faster than anything he had ever eaten before. His hunger shrank, just as the lump of bread did in his system. The two waited for a few seconds, expecting something to happen, for Dean to suddenly explode into some terrible dragon or some other beast like that. But nothing happened.

At this, Mr. Teddington spread out his arms before he exclaimed, “Ta-daaa! See? Nothing happened! Everything’s good here! Kevin’s good!”

“Huh,” Dean sounded, patting his chest as he looked down at himself. Still human. He turned to Castiel and muttered, “I guess your theory was wrong, Cas.” At that, Dean took another bite of the crumpet, the sight still making the cat put his ears back. He still seemed scared. Castiel could be really paranoid sometimes.

“You want some, kitty-cat?” Mr. Tedding asked as he dug a butter knife into the jar of orange marmalade.

“No, I would _not_ like some, and I’m not a ‘kitty—’” Castiel began, but was suddenly silenced as a cacophony of ringing noises erupted from Dean ears. His hands grabbed at his neck as a gagging sound came from deep within his throat. The transformed angel’s head whipped around to stare at his friend in shock and fear as he watched the young hunter begin to cough violently, as if he was trying to vomit up his own intestines. “Dean? Dean, are you okay?”

Dean wretched a few more times before, out from his mouth, came the orange gel that had just recently decorated the man’s crumpet. It fell to the grass below them, the neon color glowed brilliantly in the light of the sun. At this sight, Dean’s eyes widened in terror as both he and Castiel realized what that meant: Castiel’s theory was correct.

“Oh,” Mr. Teddington said with a sad frown as he and all his friends stared at marmalade on the ground. “I guess you didn’t like Kevin’s marmalade.”

Suddenly, Dean’s face scrunched up in complete and utter pain. Dean felt his insides burn as though they had been lit on fire. His teeth ached tremendously, and, in his pain, he reached up to touch them, feeling his teeth grow sharper and long from within his jaws. His shoulder blades throbbed from on his back, and when he looked down at his stinging arms he saw his bones and veins pulsing and growing from beneath the skin. From each pore a thick, brown tuft of hair began to sprout. When his hands flew back to his face, he felt his mouth and nose longer and furrier than before. In terror, he let out a horrified scream, but all that came out was a mighty roar. Looking back to his palms, he noticed hefty paws and fierce claws sticking out of each short finger.

Dean sat in his spot, panting heavily as his eyes remained shut. He felt giant and he could feel coarse fur rubbing at his limbs. His face was long and his fingers were small and stiff. He did not want to look down as himself, though he had to at some point. So, the transformed hunter opened his eyes, slowly and cautiously. The world was darker than usual, but, other than that, nothing else about his vision had changed very much.

Dean looked at his small, feline friend first, as to try and read his expression. Maybe then he could decipher how bad it was. It didn’t help that the angel had already stepped back several steps. He scanned Castiel’s surprisingly expressive face, noticing the agape mouth, the flattened ears, and the alert fur. His blue eyes were wide, pupils dilated, as they were stricken with complete and utter horror.

“Oh, nooooo!” the teddy bears exclaimed in fear as their stuffed paws covered their eyes and they shook violently. Mr. Teddington’s fake British accent and Kevin’s deep voice and different word were clear outliers in the five-bear unison. Dean whipped his head back to stare at the tiny stuffed animals. He could feel his huge, rounded ears go back.

Dean’s eyes suddenly shot down to himself, finally not being able to handle the mystery behind his new form. What he found, however, was only brown, coarse fur flooding his entire torso. Fear vibrated its way down his body. A gruff gasp came from his mouth as his mammoth paws patted his chest, making another gasp shoot from lips as he caught a glimpse of his changed hands again. Dean opened his mouth to release another scream of shock and confusion at this sight but could only let out a low moan that shook his entire esophagus. His head shot up at the noise. Could that really have been him? It was so, terrifyingly…bear-like. As his horror started to rise at his sudden predicament, Dean then tried to speak, just like the last time, however, all that came out was a louder and more deliberate groan. His head spun. This couldn’t be happening. The hunter’s eyes shot over to look at Castiel before he moaned even louder. No, he was trying to speak! But he just wasn’t able to form any words! He tried again, then again, then again, and again, until he was practically roaring into his best friend’s face, forcing both of their ears to go flat against their heads. Dean out of frustration, and Castiel out of irritation that he was being screamed at.

It wasn’t fair! Castiel could speak and make human-like emotions! Why couldn’t he!? Was this a different kind of spell? If it was, then how could he be fixed? Would he be able to be fixed at all? Did Castiel even have a shot at being turned back in the first place? Were they both just stuck? Stuck in a terrifying world where stuffed animals turned you into giant beasts? Stuck in bodies that didn’t belong to them? Stuck with mouths that cursed them never to speak to one another?

Out of anger and irritation, Dean suddenly turned towards said toys and proceeded to roar angrily at the little teddy bears in front of them. He screamed and yelled until his throat started to become numb, until he could hear, all of the sudden, the infuriated snapping of his greatest friend, Castiel.

“What did you _do_ to him!?” Dean silenced his roars in order to listen to the small, but intimidating cat. Pride and thankfulness flowed through the hunter as he watched his companion erupt into defense of him.

“We didn’t do anything!” Mr. Teddington defended, putting his paws down from his eyes in order to point one at the giant bear in front of him. “ _He_ ate the crumpet!”

“But you _gave_ it to him!” Castiel shot back, standing to his paws and walking closer to them.

“How were _we_ supposed to know that he was allergic to marmalade!?” Mr. Teddington exclaimed.

“ _Allergic_!?” Castiel repeated before quickly looking back over to Dean’s transformed face, which looked just as confused at Mr. Teddington’s statement as Castiel was. “Does that look like an allergic reaction to you!?”

“He is quite bloated,” Mr. Teddington remarked, making Dean shoot him an offended sound.

“No, he’s not _bloated_! He turned into a _bear_!” Castiel snapped with a stomp of his paw. Dean and Castiel looked over to each other, and Dean knew that Castiel was just as worried about the situation as he was. If he wasn’t a bear, he would be smiling down at his best friend. It felt nice to be cared for, and to have someone worry about him. If it weren’t for Cas being here beside him, Dean would be all alone in this frightening forest. It was times like these that Dean wondered what he would do without his dear companion. When they turned back to the teddy bears, they saw them form a small huddle and begin whispering to each other.

“What do we do?” Dean and Castiel heard Mr. Teddy say to his friends.

“I don’t know, but we better think of something quick,” Mr. Teddington answered. “Or else they’re going to sue Kevin, and that’s the _last_ problem Kevin needs.”

“Sup,” Kevin whispered.

“What was that, Kevin?” Mr. Tedding asked.

“Sup,” Kevin replied.

“By _Jove_ , Kevin! You’re a _genius_! Why didn’t we think of that before!?” Mr. Teddington exclaimed in a quiet whisper.

“The Great Kevin’s back at it again!” Mr. Tedd declared.

Mr. Teddington then suddenly yelled, “Quickly, bear-man! Drink some tea!” At this statement, Mr. Teddy began to gently pour some brown tea into a tiny cup of china.

Dean gave them an irritated roar in an attempt to ask why in the world he should do that.

“It will calm you down!” Mr. Teddington declared.

“It’s a good stress-reliever!” Mr. Tedding put in with a raise of a paw.

“Trust us, that’s why we’re out here every day,” Mr. Teddington said in a much quieter tone than he had used for the entire time they had known him, to the point that one could almost call it a whisper.

“How is that going to help?” Castiel asked incredulously.

“Tea helps everything!” Mr. Teddy answered as he hoisted himself off the ground, and bent down to pick up the tea cup, before walking over to the giant bear.

Dean’s ears turned around, suspicious of the cup that was now held out in front of him. After a few seconds of staring at it with a confused face, he looked down at Castiel with a questioning moan. The angel seemed to have no idea how to answer. Would it help? It could quite possibly make Dean’s transformation even worse, though he didn’t exactly know if that was possible. What could be worse than Dean being a giant brown bear without the ability to talk? Finally, Dean saw a small, but almost unhelpful response from Cas when his feline friend shrugged at him.

The changed hunter looked down at the tea cup, the brown liquid sloshing in the teddy bear’s stuffed paws. A low whine of confusion came from Dean’s throat. After a while of just staring at the hot drink, the hunter finally let out a gruff sigh before trying his best to take the tiny cup from the teddy bear’s grasp. When it was finally resting between Dean’s two, gigantic paws, his face morphed into a nervous grimace. The tea cup was the size of a thimble compared to Dean’s transformed body. It seemed too small to do anything to him, really. Nevertheless, the hunter closed his eyes, let out one last sigh, and emptied the whole thing into his mouth.

After he had gulped down the hot tea, Dean licked his tongue in and out with disgust. He didn’t like the drink at all. In a horrible reflex, he lunged forward and began to cough and gag violently against the ground. The tea cup dropped to the red-and-white checkered blanket as the hunter’s giant paw raised to grab his neck. His lips went back to show his fangs as a raspy cough left the bear’s mouth. He repeated this a few times as he heard Castiel call his name before a terrible roar of pain erupted from Dean’s mouth. It was just like before, the twisting and turning of muscle, skin, fat, and fur, only this time, in reverse. It all happened in a matter of seconds, one minute, Dean was a giant, fat bear; and the next, he was a muscled, practically naked human.

The hunter gaged one last time before his eyes opened and scanned the scene before him. The five teddy bears were all smiling at him, arms raised as they exclaimed, “Yaaay!”

Dean then looked over to his left to see an excited Castiel fidgeting next to him. He opened his mouth before muttering a quiet, “Cas…?” His eyes widened with shock and relief as he realized he could talk again. In spite of this, he opened his mouth again and began, “Ca—” He wasn’t able to finish, however, as he was suddenly pounced on by a streak of black fur.

“Dean!” Castiel exclaimed, as he was already in his best friend’s lap, which was practically the only covered part of his body as his clothes were ripped and torn from his transformation. Castiel’s ebony paws rested on Dean’s chest as he scanned his intense, blue eyes over his friend. “Are you hurt? Did the tea work?”

Dean smiled and placed his now very human hands on Castiel’s fluffy back. “Y-Yeah, I’m okay! That was…” He glanced off to the side before his gaze landed back on his friend. “That was weird.”

Castiel smiled – at least, as much as a cat could – as he muttered, “Yes, yes it was.”

“Ha, ha! Good show! Good show!” Mr. Teddington said in his strange British accent before turning his attention to Kevin. “Looks like you’re not getting sued today, old chap! Maybe next week, how does that sound?”

Kevin only shrugged as he mumbled, “Sup.”

“You really are just full of laughs!” Mr. Teddington chuckled.

Dean eyed the five stuffed animals before he said to them, “What the hell was up with that?”

“Up with what?” Mr. Teddington asked in confusion.

“Why did I turn into a bear!” Dean snapped fiercely.

“Oh, please, old friend. I had absolutely no idea that you were allergic to marmalade!” Mr. Teddington answered. “I do say, don’t go blaming your old companion Mr. Teddington here unless you have a real, actual, _legal_ complaint! By Jove, man! Get in line with the _law_!”

Dean paused, having no idea what he was talking about. All he knew, though, was that Mr. Teddington couldn’t have done this to him on purpose. After all, they wouldn’t have gotten that paranoid or confused about his transformation if it was their doing. “So, you’re saying that you had no clue that Kevin’s marmalade would turn me into a bear…?”

“Of course not! We would never try to harm you on purpose!” Mr. Teddington explained, “I thought that you would enjoy the marmalade! After all, the fruits of this forest are simply magical! Passing through this land, everyone recommends that you at least taste a bit of the plants here! It _is_ a delicacy, you know! People just can’t get enough of it.”

Dean hesitated before responding, “Uh, thank you then, Mr. Teddington, and…Kevin, I guess, for curing me, but…do you think you could spare us one more cup of tea?”

“One more cup of tea?” Mr. Teddington repeated. “Well, of course, my good man! I didn’t expect you to want to stay longer! What a surprise! Especially after what just happened! Ha, ha, ha! Good show! Good show!”

“No, I’d really like to leave, like, right now, but, do you think that tea could help my friend here?” Dean asked as he gestured to Castiel with his head.

“Help your little kitty-cat?” Mr. Teddington said. “But why? What’s wrong with your little kitty-cat?”

“He’s-He’s not a cat, that’s why!” Dean insisted. “He was…changed, just like I just was. So, do you think it would—”

“Your kitty-cat’s allergic to marmalade too?”

“What? No! It’s not an allergic reaction, it’s obviously not!” Dean paused, taking in a deep breath again. “All I’m asking is do you think that your tea would help my friend?”

Mr. Teddington narrowed his eyes at them, thinking about the answer to Dean’s question. Suddenly, he looked over at Kevin and asked, “What do you think, Kevin?”

Kevin squinted his beaded eyes, as if scanning into Castiel’s very soul. He stared and stared and stared for quite some time before sighing, shaking his head, and saying solemnly, “Sup…”

Dean sighed exasperatedly before snapping, “Can you say anything but ‘sup’!?”

Mr. Teddington then jumped in and answered, “Kevin said that he fears the only way to fix your friend is if you find a powerful sorcerer, or the person who cast the spell on him in the first place.”

Dean deflated and met eyes with Castiel. Their gazes locked for a few seconds before the hunter asked, without looking away from his friend, “Do you know where we can find a powerful sorcerer?”

“Hmm…” Mr. Teddington thought for a second or two before pointing to a dark, gloomy path into the forest they hadn’t noticed before. “If you follow that path, you will come upon the House of the Wiccan, it is a sanctuary for witches on this island. You might be able to convince the women there to help your kitty-cat. Maybe even for some new clothes while you’re at it?” Mr. Teddington looked back at them with narrowed eyes. “But be warned, they might want something in return, so I don’t know if such a way is the wisest choice. It is a choice nonetheless, though.”

Dean and Castiel looked down the path. It was dark and eerie and sent chills down their spines. Neither of them really wanted to go down there, but, it was the only chance they had.

Dean paused, turning back to the group of teddy bears. “Thank you. You have been really nice to us…kind of.”

Mr. Teddington paused before saying, “It was a pleasure to meet you and your kitty-cat! We will think of you tomorrow. When Kevin prepares his marmalade, and I prepare my tea and crumpets I will remember you and your allergies.” Mr. Teddington’s face spread into a warm grin.

Dean didn’t dare to smile back at him. Suddenly, he stopped. “Before we go, could I ask you one more question?”

“Why, of course! Anything for you, my good friend!” Mr. Teddington declared with a spread of his tiny arms.

“I’ve lost my brother somewhere in this world. His name’s Sam. He’s a big guy, bigger than me, with goofy hair and a whiny voice. Have you seen him?” Dean asked, worry sinking into his eyes.

The teddy bears did not answer for a moment, all of them looking at one another for some kind of answer. Finally, Mr. Teddington replied with a shake of his head. “I do apologize, my friend, but I can’t say that I have. Perhaps he is late? Don’t worry, he’ll come by here soon enough. They always do, just as I was expecting you, too. But, don’t fret, good chap, when I do meet him, I will tell him that you came here looking for him. And I will tell him where you’ve gone. You’ll find him, my friend. I do hope so.”

“Um… Thanks, Mr. Teddington.”

So, the young hunter stood to his feet, Castiel still wrapped in one of his arms as he held his pajamas around his waist with the other. With solemn but determined faces, the two friends began their trek through the dark woods.

As they left, Dean heard Mr. Teddington call back to him one last time, “So long, Mr. Winchester! Be wise and valiant! There is a long road ahead of you! And don’t forget, death and life are one in the same!”

At first, Dean thought almost nothing of Mr. Teddington’s goodbye as they walked away from the picnic, hearing the chorus sound up again and the trombone play mysteriously behind it, but suddenly, as if in one moment, he remembered that not once did he introduce himself to the bears, and yet, somehow, Mr. Teddington had known exactly who he was. In confusion and a bit of terror, Dean quickly turned to look behind him again to where the singing was coming from. However, when the hunter looked back, down the path and through the leaves to the patch of forest that they had just left and the song still echoed from, he saw nothing but a vacant patch of grass beside a lonely, desolate tree.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> *This is from a children's song from the early 20th century called 'The Teddy Bear's Picnic' that was done by many singers. This is the Henry Hall & His Orchestra edition from 1932.


End file.
